Chinese team wins LoL Mid-Season Cup, Korean teams left idly watching

A Chinese team became the inaugural champion of the League of Legends Mid-Season Cup on Sunday, defeating several Korean teams. The cup features the top four teams from the Korean and Chinese leagues in the popular multiplayer online battle game, based on their spring competitions. Only one of the three League of Legends Champions of Korea (LCK) teams in the tournament, Gen.G Esports, was able to qualify for the semifinals, while three teams of China’s LoL Pro League -- JD Gaming, Top

June 1, 2020

S. Korean volleyball icon Kim Yeon-koung leaves Turkish club

South Korean volleyball superstar Kim Yeon-koung has left her Turkish club after two seasons, with her second tour of duty in China potentially up next. The Turkish team Eczacibasi VitrA announced on its website on Friday that Kim and the club have "parted ways by mutual agreement." Kim, who captained Eczacibasi during the 2019-2020 season, helped the team to two Turkish Super Cup titles, a silver and a bronze medal at the past two FIVB Club World Championships. Kim signed with Ecz

May 22, 2020

Int'l Olympic meeting in Seoul postponed due to coronavirus pandemic

A meeting of national Olympic organizations set to take place in Seoul this fall has been postponed to next year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) and the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) jointly announced on Tuesday that the 2020 ANOC General Assembly, scheduled to be held Nov. 25-26 this year in Seoul, will instead take place in 2021. "ANOC and KSOC mutually agreed that given the current global pandemic and wide-spread res

May 19, 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

May 14, 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

May 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

May 11, 2020

S. Korean athletes to be tested for coronavirus before returning to training center

South Korean Olympic athletes set to resume training next month will be tested for the coronavirus before their return to the national facilities, officials said Monday. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) said the first batch of athletes and coaches to reenter the Jincheon National Training Center next month will undergo COVID-19 tests from May 11-13 at four designated hospitals. Those hospitals are located in Seoul and near Jincheon, 90 kilometers south of the capital. Athletes

April 27, 2020

Son of legend wins 1st MVP award in men's basketball

Heo Hoon, the second son of the South Korean hoops legend Hur Jae, was named the most valuable player (MVP) in the men's pro basketball league Monday. The third-year guard for the KT Sonicboom in the Korean Basketball League (KBL) earned his first regular season MVP honor, collecting 63 out of 111 votes from the media. DB Promy center Kim Jong-kyu had 47 votes. Heo, the first overall pick at the 2017 draft, led the KBL with 7.2 assists per game, and ranked second among South Korean-born playe

April 20, 2020

Short track worlds in Seoul canceled due to coronavirus

The world championships in short track speed skating, scheduled to take place in Seoul this year, have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The International Skating Union (ISU) announced the decision in a statement following an online ISU Council meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Thursday (local time). The World Short Track Speed Skating Championships were to take place March 13-15 in the South Korean capital, but on Feb. 26, the event was postponed indefinitely. Then on March 2

April 17, 2020

Table tennis worlds in S. Korea postponed for 2nd time due to coronavirus

The world's top table tennis tournament set to take place in South Korea has been postponed for the second time because of the global coronavirus pandemic. Following its executive committee meeting Sunday, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) decided to shelve all international competitions and activities until June 30, 2020. With that, the World Team Table Tennis Championships, which had been slated to run from June 21-28 in Busan, 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul, has been postp

March 30, 2020

With season canceled, basketball coaches rue loss of championship duel

With their season canceled on Tuesday due to the coronavirus outbreak, two coaches tied at the top of the Korean Basketball League (KBL) standings were at a loss for words. "I don't know if I should be congratulated for finishing in first place," said DB Promy head coach Lee Sang-beom, whose team ended up with a 28-15 record identical to the SK Knights. "We didn't win a championship after all." Indeed, the KBL, as it announced the cancellation of the remainder of the regul

March 24, 2020

Men's basketball league cancels season due to coronavirus

The South Korean men's pro basketball season came to an abrupt end on Tuesday, with the coronavirus outbreak forcing a premature finish for the first time in the league's 23-year history. The Korean Basketball League announced Tuesday that the rest of its regular season and playoffs will be scrapped. The largely expected decision was reached during the league's meeting with representatives from its 10 teams. Last Friday, the Women's Korean Basketball League canceled its remaining regular seas

March 24, 2020

[Newsmaker] Women's pro basketball season canceled due to coronavirus

There will be no more women's pro basketball played in South Korea this spring in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The Women's Korean Basketball League decided on Friday to scrap the rest of the regular season, which had been on hold since March 10, and to also wipe out the playoffs. With all other major professional sports -- men's basketball, baseball, men's football and men's and women's volleyball -- having come to a halt due to COVID-19, the WKBL became the first league to cancel it

March 20, 2020

Volleyball federation delays decision on season suspended amid coronavirus crisis

The national volleyball governing body has put off deciding the fate of the suspended professional season, amid increasing calls for cancellation in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. 　The Korean Volleyball Federation (KOVO) met with representatives from 13 men‘s and women’s V-League teams on Thursday, and the only agreement that came out of the meetings was that they will meet again soon to reach a conclusion, one way or the other. 　 　The three-plus hours of talks had some team

March 19, 2020

National fencing player tests positive for coronavirus

A national fencing player has tested positive for the novel coronavirus after participating in a competition in Europe, the sport's governing body said Wednesday. The Korean Fencing Federation said it received the COVID-19 test result of the 25-year-old female fencer of the national squad, whose identity is being withheld, early in the day. She returned to South Korea on Sunday after participating in a contest in Hungary. The fencer, who complained of a sore throat during her stay in Hungary,

March 18, 2020

Worldwide sports collapse piles pressure on Olympics

TOKYO (AFP) -- The collapse of sports events worldwide over the rapidly spreading new coronavirus heaped pressure on the Tokyo Olympics on Friday as US President Donald Trump suggested delaying the Games by a year. Formula One's Australian Grand Prix and The Players Championship, one of golf's most prestigious events, were the latest to fall in a period when the virus has laid waste to the sporting calendar. Football's Premier League, with a worldwide audience of billions, is also in question

March 13, 2020

Foreign-based S. Korean athletes affected by coronavirus

Outbreaks of the novel coronavirus have brought major international sports competitions to an abrupt halt this week, and South Korean athletes plying their trades overseas have been affected as well. Major League Baseball has canceled the remainder of spring training games, and the start of the new regular season will be delayed by at least two weeks. The Opening Day was originally set for March 26. Four South Korean big leaguers were in camp this year, a contingent led by Ryu Hyun-jin of the

March 13, 2020

Suspended men's basketball season to resume after 4 weeks

The South Korean men's professional basketball league announced Monday that its regular season, halted since the weekend due to the new coronavirus, will resume at the end of this month. Following its emergency board meeting, the Korean Basketball League (KBL) said its 10 teams will be back in action starting March 29. To help curb the spread of the virus, the KBL first started playing regular season games behind closed doors last Wednesday. But on Saturday, it decided to put the season on h

March 2, 2020

Short track worlds pushed to year's end due to coronavirus

The short track speed skating world championships scheduled to take place in Seoul will be pushed toward the end of the year due to the coronavirus outbreak, the sport's world governing body said Monday. The International Skating Union (ISU) had already postponed the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, originally set for March 13-15 in the South Korean capital, indefinitely last week. Citing concerns about the developments surrounding COVID-19, the ISU said Monday that rescheduling

March 2, 2020

Serbian basketball player leaves S. Korean league over coronavirus fears

A Serbian basketball player has decided to leave the South Korean league over fears of the fast-spreading novel coronavirus in the country, becoming the second foreign athlete in as many days to make the jump. The Goyang Orion of the Korean Basketball League (KBL) said Thursday that their center Boris Savovic told them he'd like to leave South Korea to be with his pregnant wife. He joins KT Sonicboom player Allen Durham in what could turn out to be an exodus of foreign athletes from South Kor

Feb. 27, 2020