Sports

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  Asian Tour to tee off new season with tournament in tough Saudi Arabia field SEOUL -- The Asian Tour, the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia, will tee off a new tournament season with a four-day event in Saudi Arabia on February 3. The golf event will attract international players including Shane Lowry, a 34-year-old Irishman who plays in the European Tour and the PGA Tour. "PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers" with a total prize fund of five million dollars will be held at Saudi Arabia's Royal Green 2022-01-12
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  Researchers develop GPS trackers for S. Korean soccer players SEOUL -- Researchers from a private research university developed a reliable GPS tracker for soccer players in a state-sponsored project to replace expensive foreign products. It satisfied the governing body of football through a successful test in the training of South Korea's U-19 women's national team. The Korea Football Association (KFA) said the new GPS tracker called "ZEUS S20," developed by a research team from Pohang University of Science and Technology ( 2021-11-22
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  Hyundai auto group credited with bringing archers to Olympic fame SEOUL -- The outstanding performance of South Korean archers who have dominated the Olympic competition and international champions for decades was attributable to a scientific training program and the transparent selection of a national team, coupled with full and dedicated support from their rich corporate sponsor. South Korea has dominated archery since the modern archery competition was introduced in 1972, collecting 27 gold medals including four in Tokyo. Since 1988, South Kore 2021-08-04
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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 acknowledged by the impl 2021-02-15
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  Former coach gets jail term of over 10 years for sexually assaulting Olympic gold medalist 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 court in Suwon judged that Shim's statement was "clear and concrete, so it is highly credible," although Cho Jae-beom has 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 real-time bas 2020-08-03
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  Golfers, caddies adjust to new normal as women's season resumes in S. Korea: Yonhap 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 with the opening round of the 42nd Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Championship in Yangju, just north of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province. It's the first golf tournament on South Korean soil 2020-05-15
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  Ultraviolet sterilization introduced for watertight quarantine to protect first golf tournament 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 of its tour, set for May 14-17 at Lakewood Country 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 was the top among a total 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 Hyundai Card, a credit card company. 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. The 12-team 2020 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 multiplayer soccer gam 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 24. A 25-year-ol 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 his zombie-like ability to continue to move forward and 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 2019 season with the official money title and the Vare Trophy 2020-03-11
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  S. Korean figure skaters to test mettle against int'l stars on home ice: Yonhap 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 the continents represented by the Olympic Rings -- will compete in four disciplines: men's sin 2020-02-05