South Korea’s national luge team -- made up of nine sliders and six coaches – improved their performance in the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games overall.

In the team relay, Korea climbed up three notches and came in about 26 seconds faster compared to Sochi Winter Games in 2014. In the women’s individual event, Sung Eun-ryung jumped 11 notches to finish in 18th with an improvement of about 20 seconds.

On the back of such performance stood Hana Financial Group, which has extended support to the Korea Luge Federation since 2012, ranging from financial aid to encouragement.

Hana Financial Group in October 2017 offered 250 million won ($232,500) in financial support to the federation, in charge of the national team. More recently on Feb. 12, during a four-day women’s single competition, a 30-strong cheerleading squad, made up of employees and university students, hit the venue to encourage Frisch and Sung, according to the group.

Hana Financial Group’s patronage of luge team has been part of its effort to support the success of the PyeongChang Winter Games as a major banking group in the host nation.

On Wednesday, Hana Financial Group invited some 700 underprivileged people to a tour in Gangwon Province. The tour included an invitation to men’s and women’s figure skating competitions, as well as tourist attractions in the Korean Peninsula’s northeastern province.

Meanwhile, Hana Financial Group’s signature KEB Hana Bank has run four offices and 11 automated teller machines near Olympic venues.

(consnow@heraldcorp.com)