Korea, Iran to ink deal on sports exchange

South Korea and Iran will soon sign a new agreement on a sports exchange, officials here said Tuesday.Yoo Jin-ryong, South Korean minister of culture, sports and tourism, and Mohammad Abbasi, Iranian minister of youth affairs and sports, will sign off on a memorandum of understanding on their sports exchange programs on Wednesday, officials said.According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism here, the agreement will cover the bilateral exchange of athletes, coaches and other sports exp

More SportsJuly 2, 2013

Gold-winner Yang only raced short course twice

Yang Jung-doo, who brought in Korea’s first 25-meter short course swimming gold at the Incheon Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, said that it was only his second time competing in the discipline at international level.On Sunday, Yang took the gold in the men’s 50-meter freestyle, setting a new Games record in the heats, only to break his own record in the finals.“I trained hard, but I think I achieved good results because my concentration was better than usual,” Yang said. He added that he ha

More SportsJuly 2, 2013

Pakistan hopes for better results in 2014

Pakistan‘s four-athlete swimming team failed to qualify for any of the finals of the Incheon Indoor and Martial Arts Games on Monday, but the team expressed high hopes for future Games.On Monday, the second day of the 25-meter short course swimming events at AIMAG, medals in seven categories are up for grabs. The categories are men’s 50-meter breaststroke, men‘s and women’s 50-meter backstroke, men‘s and women’s 100-meter butterfly, and men‘s and women’s 4 X 100-meter freestyle relay. “We were n

More SportsJuly 2, 2013

Two Koreans advance to quarterfinals in bowling

Two Koreans advanced to the quarterfinals of the women’s singles bowling event at the 4th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Incheon on Monday. The national team‘s youngest bowler Hwang Yeon-ju comfortably topped the women’s singles preliminary round, advancing to the knockout stage as top seed.The 21-year-old was 25 pins behind her teammate Son Yun-hee until the second game, but rolled a strong 267 in the third game to take the lead, while Son had a disappointing 189. Hwang finished the las

More SportsJuly 2, 2013

Singapore’s Tan grabs women’s bowling title

Singapore’s Daphne Tan won her first gold medal by defeating China’s Dongdong Chen in the women’s bowling finals on Monday.The 22-year-old, who denied a home victory to Asian Games gold medalist Son Yun-hee of Korea in the semi-finals, started off well with a strike in the second frame and another two in the eighth and the final frame to win the title with 182. Meanwhile, Chen, who defeated Hwang Yeon-ju of Korea in the other semi-final, started off with a split in her opening frame and had anot

More SportsJuly 2, 2013

Disappointment for Korean bowlers despite bronze

Korean bowlers Son Yun-hee and Hwang Yeon-ju claimed two bronze medals in the women‘s single finals on Monday. “We are still glad to have won medals. We will make our every effort for the doubles and the team of four,” said Son, a Guangzhou Asian Games gold medalist. “It would have been better if either one of us made it to the finals.”Hwang, seven years Son’s junior, also has experience of gold from the 2012 World Youth Championships. “I did well in the quarterfinals but I could have done bette

More SportsJuly 2, 2013

Vietnam minister meets Incheon Games organizer

Vietnam‘s Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Tuan Anh and three other senior officials of the Southeast Asian country met with Kim Young-soo, president of the 2014 Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee, on Monday.They discussed bilateral cooperation for the successful staging of the Asian Games, the committee said. Vietnam was elected in the general session of the Olympic Council of Asia in Macau on Nov. 8 last year to host the next Asian Games in 2019.Hoang Vinh, one of vice presi

More SportsJuly 2, 2013

Korea’s Chang Gyu-cheol takes men’s 100-meter butterfly

Korea’s Chang Gyu-cheol took the gold medal in the men’s 100-meter butterfly at the Incheon Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games on Sunday.Chang, who entered the finals in fifth place, finished the race in 51.56 seconds, slashing his qualifying time by more than 2 seconds.“The time in the preliminaries was good, so I was worried about the evening race,” Chang said. Regarding his time, Chang joked that he was not sure whether to be satisfied as he was unable to see the results due to bad eyesight.

More SportsJuly 2, 2013

China wins men’s freestyle relay, pushes gold count to 4

China won the gold medal in the men’s 4X100-meter freestyle relay at the Incheon Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games on Monday, with a new Games record of 3 minutes 15.74 seconds.China’s qualifying time was 3 minutes 20.89 seconds, the fasted time in the preliminaries. With the win, China took four of the seven gold medals on offer on the second day of the 25-meter short course swimming.China was followed by Hong Kong, whose team cut its qualifying time by about 4 seconds to 3 minutes 18.62 seco

More SportsJuly 2, 2013

Chinese sweep 2nd day of swimming

China, one of Asia’s swimming powerhouses, dominated the 25-meter short course swimming at the Incheon Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games on Monday, taking four of the seven gold medals on offer.China’s gold medals came in the men’s and women’s 50-meter backstroke, and men’s and women’s 4X100-meter freestyle relay. All four gold medals were taken in record times for the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.The women’s team completed the race in 3 minutes 41.63 seconds, while the men’s team set a

More SportsJuly 2, 2013

Thai cheers cause a stir

The Thai national bowlers drew spectators‘ attention at Anyang Hogye Gymnasium with their deafening cheers for their players during the men’s and women‘s singles competitions on Sunday and Monday.“Basically the lyrics of our chant are: One, two, three, four strikes are not enough. We want 10,” said Angkana Netrviseth, the women’s champion of the 2013 Asian Bowling Tour in Macau.Netrviseth, who is 23, has played bowling for 10 years. She was with the national youth team for two years before joini

More SportsJuly 2, 2013

Games organizer tells volunteers ‘keep up good work’

Kim Young-soo, president of the 2014 Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee, visited the Yonsei Global Campus in Incheon on Tuesday to encourage volunteers for the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games to keep up their good work, the committee said.He also asked them to come back again to work as volunteers for next year‘s Incheon Asian Games.Kim looked around the worksite of Moon Seung-ju, one of volunteers who works at the athletes’ village on the campus. The 21-year-old sophomore of Gwangju U

More SportsJuly 2, 2013

Williams loses to Lisicki in Wimbledon stunner

Serena Williams joined a growing list of marquee names eliminated early at this wild and unpredictable Wimbledon.The defending champion and five-time Wimbledon winner failed to close out a see-saw third set Monday, dropping the last four games to Sabine Lisicki of Germany and losing 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 in the fourth round. The result ended Williams' career-best 34-match winning streak.It was the latest in a string of improbable exits to jolt the tournament, with defending champion Roger Federer and Ra

More SportsJuly 2, 2013

S. Korean teenager to make long-awaited PGA Tour debut

South Korean teenager Kim Si-woo will make his long-awaited PGA Tour debut this week, having recently met the minimum age requirement to earn a full membership on the prestigious circuit.Last December, Kim became the youngest golfer to survive the notoriously difficult PGA Tour qualifying tournament, commonly known as the Q-School, at 17 years, five months and six days. Under the tour rule, however, he couldn't become a full-fledged member until his 18th birthday.Kim turned 18 last Friday and wi

GolfJuly 2, 2013

Puig’s 4-hit game lifts Dodgers

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― June was a month to savor for Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Yasiel Puig and one to forget for Philadelphia Phillies’ slumping first baseman Ryan Howard.Puig ended his sensational first month in the major leagues with his first four-hit game, Stephen Fife scattered four hits over seven scoreless innings and the Dodgers beat the Phillies 6-1 Sunday to take three of four in the series.“Puig’s definitely brought an energy and a spark to us, and his skill level, I think, is a little m

BaseballJuly 1, 2013

OCA chief: Unclear whether N.K. will attend Asian Games

INCHEON (Yonhap News) ― Asia’s Olympic leader said Sunday he held talks with North Korean officials to discuss their possible participation in next year’s Asian Games to be held in South Korea.Still, Olympic Council of Asia president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah sounded a cautious note on whether North Korea will send its sports delegation to Incheon, a port city west of Seoul, in 2014.“For next year, I can say that there is very positive dialogue,” said Sheikh Ahmad, of Kuwait, in a news conf

More SportsJuly 1, 2013

Hong Myung-bo stresses need ...for speed

Hong Myung-bo, the new head coach of the men’s national football team of South Korea, on Monday stressed the importance of speed for his players.Ahead of the opening of a youth camp in Siheung, southwest of Seoul, Hong told reporters that South Korean players should make the most of their superior speed at next year’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil.“They must remember one of the strengths of South Korean football has been the high speed,” he said. “If we can capitalize on that as we go on counterattac

SoccerJuly 1, 2013