KBO manager maintains 'glass half-full' outlook amid losing streak

Kiwoom Heroes' rookie manager Son Hyuk is an optimist by nature. Even with his Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) club mired in a four-game losing skid heading into Sunday's action, Son is maintaining his "glass half-full" mindset. "In the past two, three seasons, we had mediocre starts and then picked things up in the summer," Son noted before facing the LG Twins at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul. "As long as we stay afloat, I think we'll be just fine." The Heroes won f

BaseballMay 17, 2020

Aching back aside, KBO manager rejoices over double header sweep

LG Twins' manager Ryu Joong-il got out of bed Sunday morning with his back hurting a little more than usual. He had just managed a double header against the Kiwoom Heroes for more than six hours on Saturday, and he spent the majority of that time standing in and pacing around the dugout at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul. This was the first double header of the young Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season. That the Twins won both games eased Ryu's pain. "This was our first double header in qu

BaseballMay 17, 2020

S. Korean men's national golf championship canceled for 1st time due to coronavirus

South Korea's national golf championship has been canceled for the first time in its history due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. The Korea Golf Association (KGA) said Friday the 63rd Kolon Korea Open will not take place this year because of the recent virus situation in the country. South Korea has reported an uptick in daily virus cases in recent days following cluster infections in a nightlife district in Seoul. This is the first time that the organizers decided not to hold the presti

GolfMay 15, 2020

Olympic athletes' return to training center postponed indefinitely by surge in coronavirus cases

The scheduled return of South Korean Olympic athletes to the national training center has been postponed indefinitely in light of a recent spike in new coronavirus cases. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee said Thursday that the first batch of athletes and coaches who had been set to report back to the Jincheon National Training Center next week will have to wait. They had cleared out of the training center in March, after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was postponed by one year due to the cor

More SportsMay 14, 2020

Playing time or not, KBO catcher just wants to win

Kiwoom Heroes' catcher Park Dong-won is a manager's dream. He does not care about his playing time. He does not care about his personal stats. As long as his Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) club keeps on winning, Park is a happy man. And the Heroes have done quite a bit of winning lately. They defeated the Samsung Lions 3-2 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Tuesday for their fourth straight victory and climbed to first place in the young 2020 season at 6-1. Park delivered a game-tying solo h

BaseballMay 13, 2020

LPGA stars from S. Korea to meet in match play

Two of the biggest names in women's golf will go head-to-head in a skins match in South Korea this month. World No. 1 Ko Jin-young and world No. 3 Park Sung-hyun will meet in the "Hyundai Card Super Match" on May 24 at Sky 72 Golf & Resort, adjacent to Incheon International Airport, just west of Seoul. Hyundai Card, the title sponsor of the event, said Wednesday it will be the first "Super Match" event in nine years. Hyundai Card launched the exhibition series with te

GolfMay 13, 2020

KBO announces rules on suspended games

The South Korean baseball league announced rules on running "special" suspended games and subsequent double headers on Tuesday. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) will bring these suspended games into play this season, which opened last Tuesday after more than a month of delay due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the past, a game that had to be stopped because of inclement weather before the completion of the fifth inning was wiped clean, and the teams had to play a new game from

BaseballMay 12, 2020

Olympic judo silver medalist Wang Ki-chun banned for life over sexual assault allegations

The 2008 Olympic judo silver medalist Wang Ki-chun has been banned for life over sexual assault allegations. The Korea Judo Association (KJA) reached the decision unanimously following its disciplinary committee meeting in Seoul on Tuesday. Wang was arrested on May 2 on charges of sexually assaulting a minor. The KJA said, while Wang's allegations haven't been confirmed, the 31-year-old is found to have engaged in inappropriate relations with a minor and greatly damaged the integrity and soci

More SportsMay 12, 2020

S. Korean football opener viewed by millions on social media

The opening match of the 2020 South Korean football season last week drew millions of viewers around the world on its social media platforms, the league office said Tuesday. The Korea Professional Football League (K League) said the K League 1 showdown between Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Suwon Samsung Bluewings on Friday evening was viewed by 3.4 million fans on Twitter and 234,000 more on YouTube. The league streamed the match, a 1-0 victory for Jeonbuk, live on those two social media account

SoccerMay 12, 2020

American players in KBO trying to keep business as usual amid ESPN hype

When Dan Straily left the United States for South Korea to continue his pitching career in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) in 2020, he thought he was through getting much exposure in his home country. He was only focused on getting back to Major League Baseball (MLB) someday, so his son can watch him pitch in the bigs. But life can throw you a curve at the most unexpected times. No one could have predicted the coronavirus pandemic would have ground sports leagues around the world to a ha

BaseballMay 12, 2020

Golf to return in S. Korea with women's major championship this week

After more five months of inaction caused by the coronavirus pandemic, golf will finally return to South Korea this week. The Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) will hold its first major of the season, the KLPGA Championship, starting Thursday at Lakewood Country Club in Yangju, just north of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province. It's the first KLPGA tournament to take place on South Korean soil this season. The 2020 season began with the Hyosung Championship in Vietnam last December. I

GolfMay 12, 2020

Olympic athletes' return to training center delayed by surge in coronavirus cases

The scheduled return of South Korean Olympic athletes to the national training center has been pushed back by a week in light of a recent spike in new coronavirus cases. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) said Monday that the first batch of athletes and coaches who had been set to reenter the Jincheon National Training Center this week will do so next week. They had cleared out of the training center in March, after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics got postponed by one year due to the cor

More SportsMay 11, 2020

For love of the game: with KBO on ESPN, American fans happy to watch live baseball

After coming home from a hectic day at work, Patty Noakes likes to wind down by watching baseball on ESPN. But it is not just any baseball she is watching on the US cable station these days. ESPN will be carrying six Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) games per week this season, while Major League Baseball (MLB) remains grounded due to the coronavirus pandemic. For fans like Noakes, who grew up in Cincinnati during the "Big Red Machine" era of the early 1970s, KBO is the only basebal

BaseballMay 9, 2020

Pro football kicks off in S. Korea after 2-month delay due to coronavirus pandemic

JEONJU -- It's been a long time coming, but professional football is finally here in South Korea. Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors hosted Suwon Samsung Bluewings before some 42,000 empty seats at Jeonju World Cup Stadium in Jeonju, 240 kilometers south of Seoul, to kick off the 2020 K League 1 season. The season was slated to begin on Feb. 29 but was pushed back indefinitely five days prior to its start due to the coronavirus outbreak. Then with the number of new cases steadily falling last month, the

SoccerMay 8, 2020

Italian season in limbo with new wave of positive coronavirus tests

ROME (AFP) -- The fate of the Serie A championship remained in limbo on Thursday after state scientists met with football bosses in a desperate effort to save the coronavirus-interrupted season threatened by a new wave of positive tests among players. The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) huddled with the government's technical scientific committee to discuss details of the medical protocol for a potential return to group training. The talks came with pressure mounting from sports-deprived f

SoccerMay 8, 2020

Tottenham's Son Heung-min wraps up three-week military training with flying colors

Tottenham Hotspur's South Korean star Son Heung-min completed a three-week military training program with the best performance among all trainees Friday, as he excelled in shooting skills and other areas, officials said. Son is one of the top five trainees to receive a prize at the camp's graduation ceremony at a Marine Corps unit on the southern island of Jeju on Friday. The exact scores of the trainees were not disclosed, but officials said Son was the top among a total of 157 trainees. Son

SoccerMay 8, 2020

Clubs looking to hit the ground running at start of new football season

There's no time to mess around. The K League 1, South Korea's top pro football competition, will kick off its abbreviated 2020 season on Friday, with the three-time defending champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors hosting the reigning FA Cup holders Suwon Samsung Bluewings. The match will begin at 7 p.m. at Jeonju World Cup Stadium in Jeonju, 240 kilometers south of Seoul. The coronavirus pandemic delayed the start of the new season by more than two months. It was initially set to begin on Feb. 29

SoccerMay 7, 2020

S. Korean football season opener to be streamed live on YouTube, Twitter

The South Korean football league announced Wednesday it will stream its upcoming season-opening match live on YouTube and Twitter, complete with English-language commentary for international viewers. The Korea Professional Football League (K League) said the 2020 K League 1 opening contest on Friday between Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Suwon Samsung Bluewings will be available at K League's official YouTube channel (youtube.com/withkleague) and at its official Twitter account, @kleague. The matc

SoccerMay 6, 2020

Baseball league enjoys strong TV, online ratings on Opening Day

The South Korean baseball league has hit a home run with its television and online ratings on the first day of the new season. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced Wednesday that the five Opening Day games from the previous day had an average rating of 1.47 percent on terrestrial and cable networks, up from 1.39 percent from last year's Opening Day. The 2020 season began belatedly Tuesday, after the original, March 28 start date was pushed back due to the coronavirus outbreak. With

BaseballMay 6, 2020

LG Twins beat defending champs Doosan Bears to open 2020 KBO season

The LG Twins defeated the defending champions Doosan Bears 8-2 to start the 2020 regular season in the Korea Baseball Organization on Tuesday, powered by the first home run of the season from their captain. Kim Hyun-soo blasted his fourth career Opening Day home run for the Twins at Jamsil Stadium and drove in three runs, as the Twins got the better of their Seoul rivals. Kim's was the KBO's very first long ball of the new season.  It was one of five games played across the nation, as

BaseballMay 5, 2020