Sports

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  Pro volleyball league rocked by bullying scandal involving star players: Yonhap SEOUL -- Professional volleyball's growing popularity in South Korea came crashing down over the Lunar New Year long weekend, as the league's star players got embroiled in a scandal over their checkered pasts as bullies. The V-League, run by the Korean Volleyball Federation (KOVO), saw cable TV ratings for some big matches rival or even surpass those of baseball, the nation's No. 1 sport, in recent years. It is now reeling from allegations, since ackno 2021-02-15
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  Former coach gets jail term of over 10 years for sexually assaulting Olympic gold medalist This file picture shows Cho Jae-beom, the ex-coach of South Korea's short track speed skating national team. SEOUL -- A former coach of South Korea's national short track speed skating team was given a jail term of 10 years and six months for having sexually assaulted Shim Suk-hee, a 23-year-old Olympic gold medalist, intermittently for three years since she was a 17-year-old high school student in 2014. There was no physical evidence, but a criminal cou 2021-01-21
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  Automatic judging system introduced for professional baseball games SEOUL -- An automatic judging system will be tested for South Korea's second-tier professional baseball league with cameras tracking all pitches in real-time based on fixed ground location information to determine the ball or strike. The system has been installed at two baseball stadiums for test operation in two cities. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said it would test the automatic judging system in Masan and Icheon. Three cameras will track all pitches in 2020-08-03
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  Golfers, caddies adjust to new normal as women's season resumes in S. Korea: Yonhap A golfer and her caddie wearing masks walk on the fairway at the opening round of the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association Championship at Lakewood Country Club in Yangju on May 14. YANGJU -- Post-round hugs and handshakes gave way to fist bumps. There was no clubhouse banter. There were more bottles of hand sanitizer than there were fans. These are elements of golf's new normal during the coronavirus pandemic. Golf returned in South Korea on Thursday 2020-05-15
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  Ultraviolet sterilization introduced for watertight quarantine to protect first golf tournament LPGA player Park Sung-hyun SEOUL -- A watertight quarantine system, backed by a walk-thru ultraviolet sterilization facility and thermography cameras, will be introduced to protect players competing in the first tournament to open among major professional golf tours around the world, which have been suspended due to a coronavirus pandemic. The Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) has issued strict quarantine guidelines for the opening tournament 2020-05-12
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  Tottenham's Son wraps up three-week military training with flying colors: Yonhap ' SEOUL -- Tottenham Hotspur's South Korean star Son Heung-min completed a three-week military training program with the best performance among all trainees, 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 wa 2020-05-08
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  LPGA star Ko Jin-young to have skins match with Park Sung-hyun SEOUL -- Ko Jin-young, a South Korean star player on the LPGA Tour, will have a one-on-one skins match with her compatriot rival Park Sung-hyun on May 24 in the absence of fans. The super-match will be held at the Sky72 golf course near an international airport in the western port city of Incheon. The total amount of prize money is 100 million won ($81,967) that will be delivered to donors designated by Ko and Park after the match sponsored by 2020-05-08
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  [Coronavirus] Soccer and baseball leagues ready to open delayed seasons in May SEOUL -- Encouraged by a visible slowdown in South Korea's novel coronavirus epidemic, professional soccer and baseball leagues are flexing their muscles to open new seasons in May. However, they should play their own games without spectators for a while to follow quarantine guidelines on social distancing. K-League, the professional football league that has postponed its 2020 season due to a COVID-19 epidemic has decided to come back in the second week of May 2020-04-21
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  S. Korean football league treats fans with surprise online game event SEOUL -- K-League, South Korea's professional football league that has postponed its 2020 season due to a coronavirus epidemic, treated fans with a surprise event involving actual professional players playing an online football tournament game. To help football fans spend an exciting weekend, the domestic football league carried out an online event involving eight representatives of its teams engaging in a tournament of "FIFA Online 4," an online 2020-03-23
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  [Coronavirus] Three female fencers infected with virus after competing in Hungary SEOUL -- A global epidemic disrupted an Olympic journey by South Korea's national fencing squad after three female fencers were infected with a new coronavirus after competing in an international event in Hungary. Dozens of others including coaches and teammates were put into obligatory self-quarantine for two weeks. This is the first time that a COVID-19 patient came out of South Korean athletes preparing for the Tokyo Olympics that will take place from July 2 2020-03-19
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  Korean Zombie's agency officially ends altercation with UFC fighter Ortega SEOUL -- AOMG, a South Korean hip hop record label, put an official end to a row with Brian Ortega, an American UFC fighter in the featherweight division, saying it would accept his apology. AOMG founded by Park Jae-beom, a Korean American rapper and singer better known as Jay Park, manages Jung Chan-sung, "The Korean Zombie," ranked fourth in the UFC's featherweight division. The nickname of Jung, 32, comes from h 2020-03-12
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  LPGA star Ko Jin-young signs two-year sponsorship deal with Solaire Resort & Casino SEOUL -- Ko Jin-young, a South Korean star player on the LPGA Tour, has clinched a "strong" two-year sponsorship deal to wear the logo of Solaire Resort & Casino based in Manila, according to her agency Sema Sports. Financial terms were not given. Sema said Ko would earn money worthy of the world's top rank. The 24-year-old was named the LPGA Rookie of the Year in 2018 and LPGA Player of the Year in the 2 2020-03-11
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  S. Korean figure skaters to test mettle against int'l stars on home ice: Yonhap South Korean figure skater You Young is on training at a skating rink in Seoul. SEOUL -- Budding South Korean figure skaters will go up against some of the sport's biggest stars at an international competition on home ice this week. The Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, organized by the International Skating Union (ISU), will run from Thursday to Sunday at Mokdong Ice Rink in Seoul. Skaters from Asia, the Americas, Oceania and Africa -- four of 2020-02-05
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  Alpensia hopes to escape from Olympic hangover through deal with foreign investor SEOUL -- The northeastern province of Gangwon has been saddled with chronic debts since South Korea hosted its first Winter Olympics in 2018 in Pyeongchang, a typical example of Olympic hangovers which are common among previous host cities. Nearly $14 billion was spent on the Olympics, but it's not easy for South Korea to recover its investment to build expensive infrastructure and winter sports facilities, including the Alpensia Resort which has slopes for 2020-01-21
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  Two Russian BASE jumpers face charges of housebreaking in S. Korea SEOUL -- Two Russian extreme sportsmen were interrogated by South Korean police on charges of housebreaking after they used ram-air parachutes to jump off high-rise buildings for an aerial stunt called "BASE jumping" in the southern port city of Busan ahead of a crucial diplomatic event to be attended by leaders from Southeast Asian nations. Police said the two Russian BASE jumpers were caught in a quest house in Busan for questioning. They were n 2019-11-13
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  Ex-PGA player banned for 3 years for flipping off crowd over camera noise: Yonhap Kim Bi-o apologizes on his knees after attending a disciplinary hearing at the Korea Professional Golfers' Association headquarters on Oct. 1, 2019. SEOUL -- A former PGA Tour player has been suspended for three years by the domestic circuit for raising his middle finger at the crowd over cellphone camera noise during a recent tournament. The Korea Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA), which operates the Korean Tour, said Monday that Kim Bi-o will no 2019-10-01
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  S. Korean golf course unveiled as 1st LPGA-accredited facility outside U.S.: Yonhap The new-look golf course of Asiad Country Club in the southern port city of Busan is ready to host an international tournament after it was designated as an LPGA-accredited facility. SEOUL -- A South Korean golf course has been reborn as the first LPGA-accredited facility outside the United States and is ready to host the country's only LPGA tournament next month. Asiad Country Club in Busan, 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul, was introduced on Monday as LP 2019-09-23
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  Fans cheer Kangnam and speedskating champion Lee Sang-hwa on their marriage An image captured from Lee Sang-hwa's Instagram SEOUL -- Lee Sang-hwa, a two-time speed-skating Olympic champion in 500 meters, received words of heartful encouragement from fans after she decided to marry Kangnam, a singer and television personality. Their wedding will be held on October 12 at a Seoul hotel. Their romance began after they appeared together on the SBS TV variety show "Law of the Jungle" in September last year. Kangnam, 32, said he starte 2019-08-30
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  S. Korea's pro football body sends protest letter to Juventus: Yonhap SEOUL -- South Korea's pro football governing body, the K League, said Tuesday that it has sent a letter of protest to Juventus FC for its breach of contract for benching Cristiano Ronaldo in an exhibition match in Seoul last week. On Friday, the friendly between the Italian champion and K League All-Stars was scheduled to start at 8:00 p.m., but the kick-off was delayed about one hour as the Italian team arrived at Seoul World Cup Stadium at 8:15 p.m. Moreover 2019-07-30
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  World No. 1 Koepka to defend PGA title in S. Korea: Yonhap SEOUL -- The world No. 1 in men's golf will defend his PGA Tour title in South Korea this fall. Brooks Koepka has committed to play at the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges from October 17-20 at the Club at Nine Bridges on the resort island of Jeju, the local tournament organizers announced Tuesday. Koepka won the CJ Cup in his first appearance last year and climbed to No. 1 after the victory. "I am excited to participate in the CJ Cup once again. I was aw 2019-07-09