LOS ANGELES (AFP) -- Conor McGregor made a triumphant return to the UFC octagon on Saturday, pummelling Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone for a technical knockout victory in just 40 seconds.The mixed martial arts superstar from Ireland -- returning to the Ultimate Fighting Championship for the first time since he was battered into submission by arch-rival Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018 -- overpowered his American foe without ever being tested.After charging in with a left and missing, McGre

Powered by a clean routine, teen sensation You Young has become the first South Korean figure skater to capture a gold medal at the Winter Youth Olympics.You earned 140.49 points in free skating in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Monday (local time), for a combined score of 214 to win the ladies' singles title. Her two closest competitors, Russia's Kseniia Sinitsyna and Anna Frolova, were both undone by miscues in their own free programs.The Winter Youth Olympics, an International Olympic Committee ev

South Korea qualified for the women's volleyball tournament at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Sunday, with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-20) victory over Thailand to take the Asian Olympic qualifying tournament.Captain Kim Yeon-koung returned from one-game absence to put on a dominant show with 22 points at Korat Chatchai Hall in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, helping South Korea to reach its third straight Olympics in women's volleyball.Only the winner of this qualifying tournament earned the ticket to Jap

Without its best player, South Korea rallied to defeat Chinese Taipei at the Asian Olympic women's volleyball qualifying tournament on Saturday, moving within one win of clinching a spot at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games.South Korea reached the final of the Asian Olympic qualifying tournament with a 3-1 (18-25, 25-9, 25-15, 25-14) win over Chinese Taipei at Korat Chatchai Hall in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.Having lost its captain and top attacker, Kim Yeon-koung, to an abdominal injury, world No.

South Korean tennis player Chung Hyeon said Friday he hopes to compete at his first Olympic Games next summer in Tokyo."All athletes want to play at the Olympics," the tennis star said at a press conference held after a fan event in Seoul. "If I were given a chance, I hope to make the national team and win a game at the Olympics." For the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifications, players are required to play in the Davis Cup, a tournament between national teams in men's tennis. Bas

South Korea's Yeom Da-hoon set an Asian record as he won a gold medal at a continental youth weightlifting competition in Pyongyang on Friday. Yeom was the top performer in the men's 89-kilogram division in the 2019 Asian Youth & Junior Weightlifting Championships after clearing a combined total of 358 kilograms. Yeom, a son of the 1990 Asian Games weightlifting gold medalist Yeom Dong-chul, was third in the snatch at 160kg, but became the overall leader after lifting 198kg in the clean

South Korea's Shin Rok won three medals in the men's under-17 61-kilogram competition at Asian youth weightlifting event in Pyongyang on Tuesday.The 17-year-old placed third in snatch with 116 kg, second in the clean and jerk with 151 kg in the 2019 Asian Youth & Junior Weightlifting Championships, which kicked off in the North's capital on Sunday.  He added another silver for lifting a combined 267 kg to deliver South Korea its first medal at the event.In the men's 61-kg class, 20-year

ANTWERP (AFP) -- Andy Murray won his first ATP title since March 2017 on Sunday with a battling 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over fellow three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka in the Antwerp final.Former world number one Murray, rebuilding his game after career-saving hip surgery earlier this year, fought back from a set and 3-1 down against Wawrinka to claim his 46th career title."It means a lot. The last few years have been extremely difficult," Murray, who broke down in tears at the

Wimbledon quarterfinalist Karolina Muchova captured the Korea Open for her first WTA title on Sunday.Muchova, the No. 3 seed from the Czech Republic, defeated fourth-seeded Maga Linette 6-1, 6-1 in the rain-delayed final at Olympic Park Tennis Center in Seoul.The match was initially scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. but was pushed back by six and a half hours because of downpours, brought on by Typhoon Tapah. The match lasted just over an hour, as Muchova, world No. 45, overwhelmed the 48th-ranked

Jessica Pegula's campaign at the Korea Open tennis tournament lasted just one match, but the American player of Korean descent still has much on her plate during her stay in the country -- namely, finding inspiration for her business.Pegula, world No. 60, dropped a grueling match against Ysaline Bonaventure of Belgium, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, in the first round of the Korea Open on Monday at Olympic Park Tennis Center in Seoul.After outlasting Bonaventure in the first set, Pegula found herself down 5-0 i

Kristie Ahn's quest for her maiden WTA title got off to a rousing start in Seoul on Monday, as the Korean-American star enjoyed a breezy victory in the land of her parents' birth.Ahn overwhelmed Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 6-0, 6-0 in the first round of the Korea Open at Olympic Park Tennis Center. This is Ahn's first appearance at this tournament in three years. She was eliminated in the second round in 2017 and didn't play here in 2018.Ahn is riding high from a fourth-round appearance at t

NEW YORK (AFP) -- Rafael Nadal captured his 19th career Grand Slam title in thrilling fashion on Sunday by winning the US Open final, outlasting Russia's Daniil Medvedev 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4 to seize his fourth crown in New York.The 33-year-old Spanish left-hander moved one shy of Roger Federer's all-time men's record 20 Grand Slam triumphs and became the second-oldest New York champion in the Open era after Ken Rosewall in 1970 at age 35.World number two Nadal took the top prize of $3.85 mil

South Korea got blown out by Argentina 95-69 on Saturday to start the men's basketball world championship in China.South Korea, world No. 32, shot just 31.9 percent from the field, including 8-for-23 from behind the arc, in Group B action at the FIBA Basketball World Cup at Wuhan Sports Centre in Wuhan, China. The fifth-ranked Argentina drained six three-pointers in the third quarter alone en route to making 17 of 31 attempts from downtown.Ricardo Ratliffe, a US-born, naturalized center for Sout

Chung Hyeon defeated one left-handed Spanish player at the US Open. He couldn't get past another one.The 170th-ranked South Korean player was dominated by world No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the third round of the season's final Grand Slam tournament in New York on Saturday (local time), losing in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in just under two hours at Arthur Ashe Stadium inside the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Chung defeated Fernando Verdasco, the aforementioned Spaniard southpaw, in Th

About 3,200 martial arts masters and officials from 106 countries gathered in Chungju, a city in the central South Korean province of North Chungcheong, on Friday to kick off the 2019 Chungju World Martial Arts Masterships.The competition, dubbed the Martial Arts Olympics, will continue through Sept. 6 at Chungju Gymnasium and seven other venues in Chungju, about 150 kilometers southeast of Seoul, under the slogan “Beyond the Times, Bridge the World.” A total of 2,414 athletes, accom