Three starts into the 2021 season, Ryu Hyun-jin finally has a win for the Toronto Blue Jays. The South Korean left-hander limited the New York Yankees to a run on four hits in 6 2/3 strong innings, helping the Jays to a 7-3 victory at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida, on Tuesday (local time). He struck out seven and walked one. The lone Yankees run off Ryu was unearned, as it came following a throwing error by third baseman Cavan Biggio in the seventh inning. Ryu is now 1-1 for the season and

St. Louis Cardinals' South Korean pitcher Kim Kwang-hyun will make his long-awaited 2021 season debut on the weekend. The left-hander will face the Philadelphia Phillies on the road on Saturday (local time), St. Louis manager Mike Shildt announced prior to Tuesday's home game against the Washington Nationals. The first pitch will be 4:05 p.m. Saturday in Philadelphia, and 5:05 a.m. Sunday in South Korea. Kim missed a couple of weeks in March with back tightness, after some rough starts to his

The Olympic dream for the South Korean women's football team crashed and burned on Tuesday, as they frittered away a two-goal lead against China in the final qualifying match. South Korea and China played to a 2-2 draw in the second leg of their playoff for the Tokyo Olympics at Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre in Suzhou, China. Following their 2-1 victory in the first leg last Thursday, China advanced to the Tokyo Olympics on a 4-3 edge in the aggregate score. With the away goals rule in effect,

Tottenham Hotspur are to take action after Korean star Son Heung-min was subjected to "abhorrent racist abuse" on social media following Sunday's 3-1 defeat by Manchester United. Son is the second Spurs player in as many matches to suffer such abuse following Davinson Sanchez after the 2-2 draw with Newcastle United on Apr. 4. Son scored Spurs's goal but was involved in a controversial incident when he went down clutching his face after contact with Scott McTominay. That resulted i

Defending champion DWG Kia swept Gen.G Esports 3-0 in the League of Legends Champions Korea Finals on Saturday to secure a ticket to the Mid-Season Invitational in May and win prize money of 200 million won ($178,000). Although DWG Kia was the clear favorite leading up to the finals, the fact that Gen.G Esports and DWG Kia both swept their quarterfinals opponents 3-0 had raised expectations for a closely contested final. However, the 2020 LCK Summer champion and world champion dominated the ga

Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min has equaled his career high for goals in a Premier League season. The South Korean star netted his 14th goal of the campaign in a3-1 loss to Manchester United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Sunday (local time). Son's 40th-minute goal, set up by Lucas Moura, put Tottenham ahead 1-0, but Man United rallied with three unanswered goals for the victory. This was Son's first goal in the league since Feb. 7 against West Bromwich Albion. With 14 goals, Son

The countdown to the Tokyo Olympic Summer Games will reach 100 days Wednesday, if the competition opens as scheduled, that is. The 32nd edition of the Summer Olympics already got postponed by one year due to the global coronavirus pandemic, and the normally quadrennial event, now scheduled for July 23-Aug. 8 in the Japanese capital, will open in an odd-numbered year for the first time. Even as the clock ticks down to the opening ceremony, the cloud of uncertainty still hangs over Tokyo. The CO

They've dominated South Korean club football for the past two years. And Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, the K League 1 champions in both seasons, and Ulsan Hyundai FC, runners-up both times, are trying to turn the 2021 season into yet another two-horse race. Jeonbuk are sitting pretty atop the tables thanks to an eight-match undefeated run to open the season. With 20 points from six wins and two draws, Jeonbuk are three points ahead of Ulsan (five wins, two draws and one loss). Below Ulsan are three

After hitting 218 home runs over 16 years in the majors, Choo Shin-soo has now homered for the first time in South Korea. The new outfielders for the SSG Landers launched a solo home run off Hanwha Eagles' starter Nick Kingham in the bottom of the third inning of their Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) regular season game on Thursday. The no-doubter traveled 115 meters into right field seats at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon, 40 kilometers west of Seoul. That one swing took care of a lot

One loss, however crushing it may be, won't end South Korea's dream of playing in the women's football tournament at this year's Tokyo Olympics, head coach Colin Bell said Thursday. Bell's charges lost to China 2-1 in the opening leg of the Olympic women's football qualifying playoffs at Goyang Stadium in Goyang, just northwest of Seoul. Wang Shuang's 73rd-minute penalty was the difference in a hard-fought contest. Down by one goal in the aggregate score and by two in away goals, South Korea f

All eyes are on DWG Kia and Gen.G Esports as the two head to the 2021 LCK Spring Finals on Saturday to play for the spring title and a chance to play at the Mid-Season Invitational in May. During the online press conference Tuesday for the LCK Spring Finals, both coach Kim “kkOma” Jeong-gyun of DWG Kia and Ju “oDin” Young-dal of Gen.G Esports expressed immense respect for their opponents, but each had confidence in coming out victorious. “Facing DWG Kia, who are

LCK plans to expand overseas in latter half of year

Seven matches into the 2021 K League 1 season, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors are the only undefeated club. Jeonbuk defeated Suwon Samsung Bluewings 3-1 on Saturday, a match contested against the backdrop of Jeonbuk's controversial acquisition of a former Suwon youth player Paik Seung-ho. Suwon have claimed that Paik, one-time FC Barcelona prospect, had contractual obligations to sign with them after returning from Europe. But Jeonbuk have countered that the midfielder was available because Suwon had

Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min has returned from a hamstring injury, playing the first half of a 2-2 draw against Newcastle United in Premier League action on the weekend. Son didn't record a shot in his 45 minutes of action at St. James' Park in Newcastle upon Tyne in England on Sunday (local time). Carlos Vinicius started the second half in Son's place. It was Son's first match since injuring his left hamstring in a North London Derby against Arsenal on March 14. It only cost Son one Prem

It was a day of firsts for the San Diego Padres' South Korean infielder Kim Ha-seong. In his first major league start against the Arizona Diamondbacks in San Diego on Saturday (local time), Kim also picked up his first hit and RBI. He ended the game 2-for-4 with an RBI and a strikeout. The Padres prevailed 7-0. Kim got the start at second base and batted sixth at Petco Park. Kim had come off the bench on Opening Day on Thursday but struck out swinging. He sat out the next game before getting