- Gave an acceptance speech on 'Ice Hockey and Life' at the induction ceremony in Tampere -

SEOUL, South Korea, June 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Halla Group Chairman Chung Mong-won attended the ceremony hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) as a member of the IIHF Hall of Fame inductees. The induction ceremony, which had been postponed from May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, took place in Tampere, Finland on May 29.

Chairman Chung was honored in the category of 'Builder' in February 2020. The Builder award is presented to figures who significantly contributed to the development of ice hockey as a leader and administrator. Chairman Chung was a pioneer in developing ice hockey, contributed to the growth of the sport's popularity around the world as well as, notably, in Asia.

Chairman Chung, the fifth Asian inductee, founded Korea's first male hockey team Mando Winia (now Anyang Halla) in 1994 and led the advancement of Korean ice hockey for 26 years, worked with players enhancing  'Asia League' to international level. IIHF highly recognized his uncompromising will and efforts, honored him as IIHF Hall of Fame in 2020. In Asia, Chairman Chung Mong-won was inducted into IIHF Hall of Fame following Yoshiaki Tsutsumi (Japan), Tsutomu Kawabuchi (Japan), Shoichi Tomita (Japan), and Boris Alexandrov (Kazakhstan). Chairman Chung is the first Korean to get the honor. He particularly contributed to world peace by forming a unified North and South Korean women's Olympics team, as well as developing diplomatic relations and appointed as Korean honorary consulate of Slovenia.

In this ceremony, Mathias Seger (Switzerland), Mark Streit (Switzerland), and Kimmo Timonen (Finland) were inducted into the "Player" category, while Ron Berteling (Netherlands) received the Bibi Torriani Award that recognizes players from non-top hockey nations, and Zoltan Kovacs (Hungary) received the Paul Loicq Award for outstanding contributions to international ice hockey.

Meanwhile, Chairman Chung's acceptance speech on "Ice Hockey and Life" was greeted with standing ovation by ice hockey officials from around the world.