Hello, I just moved to Seoul and will be living here for a year at least. I am living in Jamsil and a coworker and I are looking for a place/club to join to play badminton. I've had a hard time finding any places nearby. Anywhere in Jamsil or close by?? Thank you!
Hi jessierb, I'm on vacation in Seoul now. May I ask, what's your korean proficiency level and badminton skill level? You may also want to refer to this post from "event": http://www.badmintoncentral.com/for...gdo-station)?p=2137696&viewfull=1#post2137696 Fyi, 2014 Victor Korea Open is from Jan 7-12. Would you be interested in going to watch it? I've already got my tickets. If you want to know the process for a foreigner to get the tickets, please let me know.
I don't know any korean, and my badminton skill would probably be beginner to average? Thank you! That is helpful, I can have my korean co-workers explain that to me! Yes that sounds great actually, how would I go about getting tickets? Thank you!
The only thread that seems to have touched on the Jamshil area that I know of is Post #13-15 in this thread. At least one of the links therein is defunct. I can give you lists of clubs in Gangdong-gu and Songpa-gu but no firsthand information on any of them. All information there is in Korean. Knowing the best club for you would likely entail knowing more about geography. Jamshil can be used to describe a large area. It also depends on whether you are looking for a club to play at regularly and possibly take some lessons or a public gym where you can pay admission and play occasionally with friends or whoever happens to be there.
I second what event said. One may easily assume "Jamsil" to mean the area within reasonable walking distance from the Jamsil subway station. However, Jamsil proper can be quite a substantial area. The same goes for "Gangnam", which can mean the station or it can mean the entire part of Seoul that is south of the Han River as "Gangnam" literally translates to "river, south". However, whichever club you go to, you'd probably need to speak some Korean or have someone with you or from the club that knows a little English. Here's how I got my tickets. Kindly note that the phone call may end up being of non-trivial duration. Sorry for the late reply. Later today's ticket (Jan 7) is too late to order online. However, I believe it is qualifying day. If that interests you, you may try getting a ticket at the box office outside the stadium. However, there will be no discount here and it is first come first serve. For the remaining days, you could try calling the Dasan Call Center free translation service at 02-120. Ask them to call Interpark Customer Service at 02-1544-1555 and request tickets for 2014 Victor Korea Open badminton. Dasan may initiate a 3-way conference call. This way, you can get the internet discount but you will be unable to view the seating chart. You'll need your credit card handy and they'll text you the confirmation numbers (1 for each day) if you have a cellphone. If you want to be able to view the seating chart, you may need to find someone with an Interpark Korean website account to help you and click towards the right page starting from here: http://ticket.interpark.com/Ticket/Goods/GoodsInfo.asp?GoodsCode=13013776# If you can get to the seating chart, you'd probably be pretty close to clicking "confirm purchase". The English (Global) Interpark website does not have these tickets. This is what I think the schedule is: 7 Jan - qualifiers from 9am 8 Jan - round-of-32 from 9am 9 Jan - round-of-16 from 10am 10 Jan - quarters from 1pm 11 Jan - semis from 12noon 12 Jan - finals from 12noon Venue: Olympic Park SK Handball Stadium (Olympic Park station on Line 5). If google maps is accurate, it looks like it may be around 10 mins walk from exit 3. Be advised that especially on the 1st day, matches may run until the subway closes. You may track the results here: http://bwf.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/tournament.aspx?id=F33F6867-A593-47DD-BD7E-2A6D41EB1842
