Fouda Ahmed's gold medal spotlights growing diversity in Korean sports

Fouda Moaz Ahmed, Korea’s first naturalized wrestler, won gold at the National Sports Festival — the country’s premier amateur athletics event often dubbed “Korea’s Olympics” — earlier this week, drawing attention to the growing diversity of the nation’s sports scene. The 21-year-old Korea National Sport University student won the men’s college Greco-Roman 60-kilogram title with an 8-5 comeback victory in the final at the multisport event, held in the southern port city of Busan from Oct. 17-23. Born in Seoul in 2004 to an Egyptian father and a Russian mother, he obtained Korean citizenship in May, following years of efforts to make the country his official home. “It took me more than 10 years to finally become a Korean citizen,” Fouda told The Korea Times. “I’ve been applying since I was in elementary school, but I was too young and didn’t meet the financial requirements, so my applications were rejected for years.” Fouda took up wrestling in his first year of middle school after a coach suggested he try the sport. As an Egyptian-Russian dual national, pursWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times