Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, attended the cornerstone laying ceremony for a cathode plant in Debrecen, in eastern Hungary, built by South Korea’s EcoPro at a cost of 280 billion forints (EUR 740m).
The plant, EcoPro’s first outside of South Korea, will make around 108,000 tonnes of cathode material a year for electric vehicle batteries, the minister said at the ceremony. The investment, which will create 630 jobs, is supported by a 30 billion forint government grant, he said.
Szijjártó noted that Hungary ranks fourth globally in the manufacturing and export of batteries for electric vehicles. He said car making was undergoing a “revolutionary renewal”, adding that it was “not only an economic must … but an environmental necessity since 14 percent of global emissions is related to road traffic”. “Unless the world shifts to electric transportation in the next few years all environmental objectives, all climate and green goals will be degraded into naive illusion,” Szijjártó insisted. Such a shift requires electric vehicles, he said, adding that it needed batteries and “car makers in the West have become entirely dependent on battery producers in the East”.
South Korean investment and high-tech
He said it was a crucial question which countries could benefit from the process and “create a large number of jobs and … import ultra-modern technologies”. “We honestly hope that there are few in Hungary that expect all those projects to flourish in other countries,” the minister added. Touching on bilateral ties with South Korea, he said trade between the two countries had grown by 37 percent last year to close to 7 billion US dollars.
The Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air closes its base in Cardiff, Wales. The low-cost airline is closing its base in Wales and all its flights there, citing high costs and the economic environment. Wizz Air is also closing its base in Bacău, Romania, and Bari, Italy. However, we have some good news for those wanting to travel to Seoul, South Korea.
Withdrawing from Wales
The UK subsidiary of Wizz Air, Wizz Air UK, drastically cut back its flights from the Welsh capital at the end of last summer. Now, it has announced that it will withdraw permanently from Cardiff airport on 25 January, and will cease its two remaining routes to Milan and Bucharest. Since Wizz Air withdrew from Doncaster Sheffield last year, it will now have a presence at only eight UK airports, airportal.hu reports.
Wizz Air UK Managing Director Marion Geoffroy said the airline remains committed to long-term growth. She cited the challenging macro-economic environment and high operating costs, including increased fuel costs, as reasons for the base closure. According to the statement, Cardiff staff will be offered the possibility to transfer to other Wizz Air bases and affected passengers will be rebooked or reimbursed.
Also closing bases in Bacău and Bari
The low-cost airline also closed its base in Bacău, Romania, on 10 January. Its capacity was transferred to other, busier routes. The airline also announced on 10 January that it will close its base in Bari, Italy, on 16 February. It will transfer flights to Rome and Milan and retain flights to the airport from its other bases.
We also have good news for the travelling public. Park Chul-min, the outgoing ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Budapest, gave an interview to Magyar Nemzet. Among other things, he said that since December, Korean Airlines has been operating three direct flights a week between the two capitals, Budapest and Seoul. Including the Polish airline LOT, this means five direct flights a week.
What is more, a Korean Airlines official told Park Chul-min that if everything goes according to plan, from December this year, they expect to start daily direct flights between Budapest and Seoul. The official also said that the occupancy rate for flights resumed after the pandemic is currently around 60-70 percent. Meanwhile, the Budapest-Seoul flight, which started in October, is already 90 percent full.
Two Hungarian national team footballers have been included in the 2022 list of the world’s most successful players, compiled by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS).
Top scorers
Germán Cano, an Argentine from Brazil’s Fluminense, topped the IFFHS list with 33 goals, ahead of France’s Kylian Mbappe, who scored 32 times for Paris Saint-Germain, and another Argentine, Nicolás Ibánez of Pachuca, Mexico, who scored 31 league goals last season.
Boris Kopitovic was the absolute top-scorer last calendar year with 35 goals, but his club Tampines Rovers in the Singapore league, which is not included in the IFFHS top 100, so the Montenegrin footballer was not ranked, MTI reported.
Martin Ádám
Martin Ádám scored a total of 25 goals for Paks and then his new club Ulsan in South Korea, which puts him 16th in the standings. He scored nine times in Korea.
Dániel Gazdag
Dániel Gazdag, who plays for the Philadelphia Union in the United States, is 22nd with 24 goals.
The top scorers in the top leagues in 2022:
1. Germán Cano (Argentina), Fluminense, 33 goals
2. Kylian Mbappé (French), Paris Saint-Germain, 32
3. Nicolás Ibánez (Argentina), Pachuca, 31
4. Erling Haaland (Norwegian), Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City 30
5. Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Bayern Munich and Barcelona 29 …16th Ádám Martin, Paks and Ulszan 25 …22nd Dániel Greichag, Philadelphia Union 24
Foreign direct investment in Hungary reached a record 6 billion euros or 2,600 billion forints this year, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Wednesday.
The list of investors was topped by South Korea in terms of the volume of investments, and by Germany in terms of the number of jobs created, the minister said on Facebook. Szijjártó qualified the structure of FDI “healthy”, with 48 percent of investment coming from the East, and 42 percent from the West. Hungarian investments account for about 10 percent of the total, the minister said.
The majority of investments were in the electric vehicle industry, Szijjártó added. Hungary’s goal has to be bypassing a recession and maintaining economic growth, he said. This can only be done by bringing more and more investment to Hungary, he said. “These are what create jobs, which generate output, which generates economic growth,” he added.
Szijjártó highlighted the role of the government’s system of investment promotion in this year’s record, saying the government had put in a great amount of effort in making Hungary a meeting point for the Eastern and Western economies.
He identified the EV industry as the true meeting point of the Eastern and Western economies, adding that the major Western car manufacturers would soon shift their focus to electric vehicles. This requires electric batteries which are primarily manufactured in the East by China and South Korea, Szijjártó said.
“Hungary by now has become the European champion of the automotive sector’s transition to electric vehicles,” he said. And because construction of Europe’s biggest electric battery plant is not set to get under way until early next year, “Hungary is also a realistic candidate for the world championship title,” he added.
Szijjártó said the EV industry attracted 73 percent of investments in Hungary this year. Altogether 43 percent had to do with electric battery production, while 30 percent were auto industry investments focused on the production of electric or hybrid vehicles, he added.
The food industry attracted 10 percent of investments, while 8 percent of investments went to service centres, the minister said.
Meanwhile, Szijjártó said the ongoing war and the “flawed sanctions” imposed by Brussels in response to it were pushing the European economy towards a recession, adding that the longer the war went on and the more sanctions Brussels approved, the more difficult things would get for the European economy.
House Speaker László Kövér on Sunday sent a letter of condolences to his South Korean counterpart Kim Jin-pyo over the victims of a disastrous accident that claimed the lives of over 150 in Seoul.
“Hungarian parliament stands beside the Republic of Korea in these tragic moments,” Kövér said in his letter. The accident, in which many locals and foreigners died, happened during a Halloween event on Saturday. According to information from the Hungarian embassy in Seoul, no Hungarians were involved in the disaster.
Asian companies see Hungary as an attractive investment site by virtue of its corporate tax being the lowest in Europe, secure energy supply and political stability, Finance Minister Mihály Varga said after talks with Kim Young-joo, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, on Friday.
All South Korean investments help Hungary evade economic recession emerging on the back of the sanctions-fuelled crisis, he said. South Korea was the biggest foreign investor in Hungary last year, Varga said.
The minister noted that the Republic of Korea is second only to China among Hungary’s Asian trading partners, with over 260 companies of South Korean involvement employing over 20,000 Hungarian workers. Thanks to Korean enterprises, Hungary has become the world’s third biggest manufacturer and the fifth biggest exporter of batteries, he added.
Hungary offers competitive conditions for investors in terms of taxation, skilled manpower and infrastructure, Varga said, adding that the government had concluded strategic cooperation agreements with three large Korean companies.
Hungary and South Korea have agreed to sign an investment promotion and trade development agreement, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Monday.
Szijjártó said on Facebook that the agreement he signed with South Korean Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun in Dunakeszi near Budapest would help bring more investments to Hungary. Given that South Korean companies are leaders in the global electric vehicle industry, their investments in Hungary are crucial, the minister said.
South Korean EV industry players like Samsung SDI, SK Innovation, W-Scope and others have created more than 10,000 jobs in Hungary in the recent period, he said. Meanwhile, bilateral trade turnover reached a record 5 billion US dollars last year, he said, adding that Hungary will soon resume meat exports to the country.
The minister emphasised the importance of investments carried out by reliable and strong Eastern businesses at a time when “Europe is rapidly moving towards a recession due to Brussels’s failed sanctions”.
Thanks to its balanced economic policy, political stability and the fact that it has the lowest taxes in Europe, Hungary is an attractive investment destination for large Eastern companies, Szijjártó said.
Eastern countries have been the biggest sources of foreign investment in Hungary since 2019, with South Korea being the top investor in 2019 and 2021 and China in 2020 and this year, he said.
These Eastern investments are what will prevent Hungary from getting caught up in the European recession, he added.
Korean Air’s Seoul-Budapest flight has been hugely popular, with passengers jumping at the chance to grab available tickets as soon as the flight was launched.
As a result, in mid-October, the airline replaced the Boeing 787 Dreamliner originally used to operate the route with a Boeing 777 aircraft, offering even more seats. The South Korean national carrier will increase the frequency of the flight from one to two per week at the end of October and to three per week from 22 December, which is good news not only for visitors to Seoul, Budapest Airport wrote on its Facebook page.
The service offers excellent connections to several countries in Asia and Oceania.
Book today at koreanair.com or through Hungarian travel agents and bag your dream trip for the winter season!
Hungary will stay on an economic growth path if it continues to provide support to job-creating projects by large international companies in the country, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Facebook on Friday.
Szijjártó noted that Europe was facing serious economic recession and insisted that Hungary could be a “local exception” if it maintains the practice of promoting such projects. Szijjártó made a special mention of South Korean electric car producers with battery plants in Hungary, and said they were the third largest investment group in the country.
At a meeting with South Korean business leaders, Szijjártó said the Hungarian government was firm in its commitment to “retain fundamental economic and social policy goals”.
A new direct flight between Budapest and Seoul will help to enhance the “success story” of Hungary-South cooperation, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said on Monday.
Addressing an event organised by South Korean flag carrier Korean Air, Szijjártó said the airline plans to operate the new service twice a week before expanding it to three flights a week next summer.
Korean Air will compete with LOT on the route, with the Polish airline currently operating twice weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays between Seoul and the Hungarian capital, also with Boeing 787s, according to the 2022/23 winter schedule and booking systems.
The Korean airline had already planned to start its Budapest flights in the summer 2020 schedule, but due to the epidemic it was postponed until the spring of the following year, but this was not realised.
Szijjártó also praised bilateral cooperation, noting that South Korean companies make up the third largest investor community in Hungary today. Bilateral trade turnover reached a record 5 billion US dollars last year, and was up 20 percent in the first half of this year, he added.
“We have but one opponent in this struggle, which is distance, given that our two capitals are more than 8,000 kilometres apart, but we can proudly say that today we’ve defeated even this opponent,” Szijjártó said.
The new flights are expected to increase tourism flows between the two countries, he said, noting that so far
this year, more than 22,000 South Korean tourists have spent over 100,000 guest nights in Hungary, representing a return to pre-pandemic levels.
He noted that South Korea was the top foreign investor in Hungary in both 2019 and 2021. The minister said it was clear that South Korea’s technologically advanced companies were discovering the opportunities offered by the Hungarian investment environment, which was crucial in order for Hungary to maintain its economic growth.
Moreover, these investments, Szijjártó said, were mainly focused on the automotive sector, which he said represented the backbone of the Hungarian economy. These investments, he added, allowed Hungary to become a global leader in the auto industry’s “electric revolution”.
“Our country is where German electric car production and Eastern electric battery production meet,” Szijjártó said.
The minister said Hungary was certain that the physical link between itself and South Korea becoming stronger would allow the two countries to “add another chapter to the book on the success story of their economic cooperation”.
Szijjártó also praised the Hungarian government’s Eastern Opening strategy as a “success story”, noting that Hungary’s overall trade turnover with countries to its east had increased by 49 percent since 2010, with its exports to the East having increased by 45 percent.
South Korea’s national airline will launch passenger flights between Seoul and Budapest in October, Airportal.hu said.
The Korean airline had already planned to launch its Budapest flights in the summer 2020 schedule, but due to the epidemic it was postponed to the spring of the following year, but this was later not realised either.
Korean Air will start flying once a week between the two capitals from 4 October, and twice a week from the start of the winter scheduling season.
The flight was added to booking systems on Monday evening and will be operated with Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
The airline’s KE 971/972 flights will arrive in Budapest at 17:5 on Tuesdays in October and return to Seoul at 19:15. From the end of October, the direct flight will operate on Mondays and Saturdays, one hour later local time.
Korean Air will be competing with Polish airline LOT’s Budapest-Seoul service, which currently, and according to booking systems, will operate twice weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays in the 2022/23 winter schedule.
However, Korean Air’s Boeing 777F and 747F freighter jets have been regular guests at Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc Airport since 2020, details HERE.
South Korean battery material producer W-Scope is investing 290 billion forints (EUR 728.1m) to build its first European battery separator film plant in Nyíregyháza, in north-eastern Hungary, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said on Friday.
The investment will create 1,200 jobs, with the new plant set to produce 1.2 billion square metres of battery separator film for electric vehicles a year, Péter Szijjártó said, according to a foreign ministry statement.
Szijjártó said it was beyond doubt that
the automotive industry had by now become the backbone of the Hungarian economy.
The value of the sector’s output came to 9,400 billion forints last year compared with 3,600 billion in 2010, he said. The auto industry output reached a record 3,500 billion forints over the first four months of 2022, the minister added.
“And those who attract electric vehicle investments win the future and can lay the foundations of future economic growth,” Szijjártó said.
He said Hungary was a popular investment destination among the world’s leading auto industry companies. Hungary has become a “flagship” of the European automotive sector’s transition to electric vehicles and a major player in the manufacture and export of electric vehicle batteries.
Hungary has the world’s third largest EV battery production capacity after China and the United States,
which will increase from the current annual 50 GWh to 150 GWh by 2025, Szijjártó said. Hungary currently ranks fifth in the export of EV batteries, he added.
Szijjártó said the greatest achievement of the Hungarian government’s policy of opening up to the East was that Hungary had become a popular investment destination in Europe among Eastern companies. He added that after 2019 and 2021, it was possible that South Korea will top the list of foreign investors in Hungary again this year.
South Korean companies are now the fourth biggest group of investors in Hungary, which demonstrates that individual investments help attract further ones,
the minister said.
Bilateral trade turnover between Hungary and South Korea reached a new record last year at close to 5 billion dollars, Szijjártó said, adding that it was clear that Hungary benefitted a lot from its relations with the Far Eastern country.
Hungary’s first ever diver training tank was inaugurated in Baja, in the south, on Friday, on the occasion of the third anniversary of a deadly boat collision on the River Danube which took the lives of many South Korean tourists in 2019.
On May 29, 2019, the Viking Sigyn cruise ship collided with the Hableany sightseeing boat which had 33 South Korean tourists on board and a crew of two Hungarians. Seven tourists were rescued from the water after the collision and the rest died. One of the bodies has not been recovered.
Róbert Zsigó, Baja’s Fidesz MP, said at the inauguration that
the disaster bound two nations together.
He said the youngest victim of the collision was 6 years old and the oldest 71.
South Korea’s ambassador in Budapest, Park Chul-min, awards one of the Hungarian divers. Photo: MTI/Dániel Kiss
Park Chul-min, South Korea’s ambassador to Hungary, said May 29, 2019 had been “a moment of shock” which to this day could not be forgotten. At the same time, he expressed his thanks and gratitude to the divers who had done everything they could to save the victims at the scene of the disaster.
The diver training tank inaugurated in Baja, a city at the southern Hungarian section of the River Danube, was built at the initiative of the Havaria Disaster Management Public Benefit Association.
A memorial event was held at Margaret Bridge in Budapest on Sunday to mark the third anniversary of a boat accident on the Danube which killed 28 people.
Park Chul-min, the ambassador of Korea, and Péter Sztáray, Hungary’s state secretary for security policy, laid wreaths at the spot to commemorate the Korean and Hungarian victims.
“The tragedy from three years ago is carved into the memory of millions of Koreans and Hungarians. The two nations shared and still share the pain in mourning,” Sztáray said. “The shock caused by the tragedy has brought the citizens of the two nations closer together,” he added.
Park Chul-min expressed thanks to the foreign ministry and Budapest’s 5th district’s local council for the possibility to pay tribute to the victims of the tragedy at the memorial built at the bridge.
On May 29, 2019, the Viking Sigyn cruise ship collided with the Hableany sightseeing boat which had 33 South Korean tourists on board and a crew of two Hungarians. Seven tourists were rescued from the water after the collision and the rest died. One of the bodies has not been recovered. The trial of the captain of the Viking Sigyn is still ongoing.
Ambassador Park Csul Min and state secretary Péter Sztáray. Photo: MTI
Though the Ukrainian–Russian war has brought many Eastern European economies into a difficult position, experts are optimistic about the fate of the Hungarian economy. As Világgazdaság writes, there is reason to be hopeful about the future, and here is why.
One of the big problems the economy is facing right now is the unpredictable supply chain. Like many European countries, Hungary relies quite a bit on Ukrainian commodities in terms of agriculture and industry. But once this general uncertainty in the global economy ceases, we can look forward to a very bright economic future, according to recent investments on the market.
Many large-scale corporate developments were launched in the country since the beginning of 2020, and these developments can bring Hungary’s export performance up by about HUF 13–22,000 billion annually. These numbers take up to 27–45% of the current annual exports of goods.
One of the main areas of investment is electromobility. The South Korean-owned SK Innovation, known to be partnered with Samsung, is building its largest European battery factory here in Hungary, which is promised to be completed by 2025. Experts say that SK Innovations and other South Korean developments could make Hungary at least the third-biggest battery exporter in Europe.
SK Innovation Headquarters, Komárom, photo: https://skonhungary.com/about-us/
According to government officials, however, the real goal is the second place: László Palkovics, Minister of Innovation, claimed at a conference last October that Hungary aims to be the second biggest after Germany when it comes to batteries, napi.hu writes.
And while this is all great news, the Hungarian Convergence Program warns that because of the overall political tension in the area, “there is a risk that, during a more uncertain outlook and supply chain disruption, some projects may take longer than planned to implement and that temporarily fewer investment decisions will be made in the short term”.
While it is hard to provide a year-round outlook on what these changes could truly mean for the investments and the Hungarian economy, due to the multiplicity of risks, growth is expected to be 5-6% in the medium term. There are upward indicators as well as downward ones, but even this 5-6% growth could provide some much-needed stability to the economy.
More importantly, these investments and developments can bring Hungary 13-18 percentage points of GDP surplus, which would only add to the seemingly brightening future of the economy.
Forests are in the focus of Hungary’s fight against climate change, Sándor Szentpéteri, Hungary’s deputy state secretary in charge of the country’s woods, told the 15th World Forestry Congress in Seoul on Wednesday.
A brief history of the World Forestry Congress
Since the first World Forestry Congress was held in Rome in 1926, about every six years, the Congress has been providing a forum for inclusive discussion on the key challenges and way forward for the forestry sector. In 1954, FAO was entrusted with supporting Congress preparations in close cooperation with the host country and proudly continues to do so today. More information on past Congresses can be found here.
The agriculture ministry quoted Szentpeteri as voicing agreement with the aim of the congress, to promote a green and sustainable future by way of cultivating forests.
Concerning Hungary’s achievements, the official said the country had doubled its wooded areas in the past decade, noting that a programme launched in recent years had given new impetus to those efforts.
By 2030, Hungary aims to increase the ratio of its woodlands to 27 percent of its total area, Szentpéteri said.
He also stressed the importance of cultivating existing woodlands lest they should “fall victim to the impacts of climate change”.
The Hungarian delegation to the conference is mostly interested in sustainable forestry and circular forest management, as well as in opportunities for cooperation concerning the application of Hungary’s experience in desert afforestation, the statement said.
The conference, held every six years, is attended by 12,000 participants.
South Korea has become one of the largest investors in Hungary, with the three largest investment projects of the past years coming to Hungary from South Korea, Finane Minister Mihály Varga said at the fourth meeting of the Hungarian-South Korean economic committee on Thursday.
The record growth of the Hungarian economy last year is a good basis to protect those ties, the finance ministry cited Varga as saying. Most investments in Hungary arrived from South Korea in 2021, and 260 companies employ some 20,000 people in the country, he said.
The three largest investments in the country over the past years are also South Korean,
Varga noted. SK Innovation is building its third battery plant in Hungary, the 680 billion forint (EUR 1.8bn) investment will create 2,500 jobs, he said. The second and third largest investments, of ALG Chem-Toray (HUF 267bn) and EcoPro BM (HUF 264bn), are also connected to battery manufacturing, he said.
Bilateral trade has grown by 28 percent in 2020 and 18 percent last year, he said. Exports outstripped imports in both years, he said.
Varga and South Korean trade and industry minister Moon Sung-wook co-chaired the event.
The ministers agreed that Hungary continues to provide an investment-friendly business environment, well-trained work force and a competitive tax system for South Korean companies.
Sándor Shaolin Liu won the gold in 1000m speed skating at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games yesterday. However, he could only celebrate his win for a couple of seconds. After a short examination, the jury disqualified him because of two fouls committed during the finals. He received a yellow card, the gold and silver went to Chinese athletes, while his brother won the bronze medal. Public outcry followed the decision in Hungary, and people are blaming the referees. The Hungarians challenged the decision, and South Koreans also complained about the jury’s work.
What happened in Beijing yesterday?
Three Chinese and two Hungarian athletes of Chinese origin competed in the finals yesterday. Interestingly, the race started twice due to ice chunks on the surface. The first try was better for the Hungarian Sándor Shaolin Liu, though he could not complain about the second, either. Liu and China’s Ren fought for the first place from the beginning right up to the final metres. The Hungarian athlete fell while crossing the finish line, then started to cheer.
Then came the video control and the jury.
Photo: MTI
They analysed the video recordings for a couple of minutes and disqualified the young Hungarian skater, giving the gold to Ren. Ren’s compatriot, Li Wenlong, won the silver, while the bronze went to Liu’s brother, Shaoang Liu.
In the history of the Winter Olympics, it was in 1924 that Hungary won more than one medal at a single event.
Hungarian skater disqualified by mistake?
The 26-year-old Hungarian skater’s brother, Liu Shaoang, stated at a press conference that “we are not referees, there is nothing we can do”. However, the Hungarian team challenged the jury’s decision. According to index.hu, Ren Ziwei jerked Liu backwards on the final metres of the race. He fell, but even so, he won. The Chinese athlete was not disqualified, and the Hungarian team’s challenge was rejected.
Liu Shaolin Sándor. Photo: MTI
It is not only the Hungarians who raise their eyebrows, questioning the fairness of the referees at the Beijing Olympics. South Korea will turn to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) because of the semi-finals of the men’s 1000m speed skating, during which Hwang Daeheon and Lee Juneseo were disqualified, telex.hu reported. The Korean Olympic Committee said they would do everything to protect their athletes from unjust decisions. The public outcry was so huge in the Far Eastern country that even politicians claimed that
Zsolt Gyulay, the head of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, said it was hard to watch what had happened after the athletes crossed the finish line. “We see how the refereeing goes.” He added that in short track speed skating, the race is never over once the athletes cross the finish line. The arrival order is never the final result.
“We could see that the Chinese athletes worked together,”
he highlighted.
Photo: MTI
Liu’s disqualification justifiable?
He added that, despite Liu’s disqualification, Monday was full of wonders. First of all, Shaoang Liu won Hungary’s first individual Winter Olympic medal. Furthermore, Petra Jászapáti’s seventh place in 500m is also respectable. Moreover, this is the first Winter Olympic Games where the Hungarians won more than one medal.
Player.hu asked Krisztián Szabó, the head coach of the Hungarian junior team, about the controversial speed skating finals. Mr Szabó said that the work of the referees does not meet the standards worthy of the Olympic Games.
He said that Liu’s first foul was so insignificant that referees would not mind it in 80 pc of the cases. The second was at the finish line. However, there, it was the Chinese who jerked the Hungarian athlete backwards first. The problem is that Liu picked up the gauntlet.
Photo: MTI
Mr Szabó highlighted that if a yellow card was deemed reasonable in the case of Liu, the Chinese should have been disqualified as well. He said that the referees favour Chinese athletes in the Winter Olympics – and not only the Chinese referees.
Meanwhile, Shane Ryan, a co-worker of Golf Digest, said that Liu’s disqualification was justifiable because he left the track and blocked his Chinese contestant with his arm. Since his foul preceded the Chinese, he disqualified himself before the finish line, Ryan argues. Balázs Kövér, a Hungarian referee, agrees with the American journalist. He said that Liu could have been disqualified. Though he would not have modified the race result, the referees’ decision is justifiable.
The yellow card he received means he did not rank in the finals. It is as if he did not even take part.
