Lee Geum-jae, who was the first badminton player in Gwangju and Jeonnam, founded several teams, and became the first player to serve as the president of the Korea Badminton Association, on the 5th. The bereaved family said on the 7th that he passed away at his home in Gwangju around 10 pm. He is 76 years old (only).
Born in July 1946 and whose domicile is in Boseong, South Jeolla Province, the deceased entered Cho Dae-bu High School as a handball player, but changed his sport to badminton in his sophomore year in 1963. Four students from Jo Dae-bu High School, including the deceased, started playing badminton, which was hardly known in Gwangju at the time. After playing badminton at Chosun University, he took his first step as a leader by founding a badminton team at Chungjang Middle School in Gwangju in 1973. Kim Joong-soo, vice president of the Korea Badminton Association, who coached Kim Moon-soo and Park Joo-bong, said, “I first picked up a badminton racket when I was in the 5th grade of elementary school, but there was no coach.” It was you,” he said.
In January 1980, the deceased made a badminton team at Gwangju Ilgo, and in the first year of its founding, it led it to runner-up in the spring competition and the competition. After serving as executive director of the Jeonnam Badminton Association, in February 1983, he was appointed as a referee with executive director Kim Hak-seok 스포츠토토(passed away in 2022), and took the first step as a ‘executive from a player’. In 1988, he participated as general manager in the regional qualifiers for the World Badminton Championships held in San Jose, USA. In the 1990s, he served as the manager of the Jeonnam Sports Association and the secretary general of the Gwangju Sports Association, and from 2001 to 2003, he served as the 25th president of the Korea Badminton Association for the first time as a player.
Vice Chairman Kim Joong-soo recalled, “He was strict and could not tolerate injustice, and he was a person who devoted his life to badminton.”
As for his survivors, there are 1 son and 2 daughters (Lee Yeon-jin, Lee Si-young, Lee Hoon-seong) between his wife, Joo Suk-ja. The funeral was in Room 203 of the Gwangju State Funeral and Cultural Center, at 8:30 a.m. on the 8th of the funeral, in the memorial hall of Youngnak Park in Jangji, Gwangju.