Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min will begin his three-week military training this week at a Marine Corps boot camp on the southern island of Jeju to fulfill his minimum military duty after he was given an exemption from mandatory military service. Son, 28, will join the 9th Brigade of the Marine Corps on Monday and undergo training until May 8. He earned his exemption from the military service by winning the gold medal for South Korea at the 2018 Asian Games. Instead of serving around

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

The men's Olympic basketball qualifying tournament involving South Korea has been pushed back by a year, following the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games to 2021. FIBA, the international basketball governing body, announced Friday the qualifying matches will now be played between June 22 and July 4 next year, with the exact dates pending approval by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Four different qualifying tournaments had been scheduled to run from June 23-28 this year in

If the 2020 South Korean baseball postseason gets pushed to early winter by the coronavirus outbreak, then teams would be willing to play at a neutral, climate-controlled venue to ensure a warmer setting for players and fans, an informed source said Friday. The source told Yonhap News Agency that general managers (GMs) from multiple Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) clubs are in favor of playing late playoff games at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, the only domed ballpark in the country. It is the h

Tottenham Hotspur striker Son Heung-min will take part in a three-week basic training for mandatory military service required by South Korea, sources familiar with that matter said Thursday. He is exempt from conscription but will receive the training at a Marine Corps camp on Jeju Island from April 20. All able-bodied South Korean men must serve active duty for at least 18 months, but athletes who win gold at the Asian Games or a medal of any color at the Olympics can complete a basic train

The South Korean baseball league is pondering shortening the 2020 regular season by as many as 36 games, with its start having been delayed by the coronavirus outbreak. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) held an executive committee meeting with general managers (GMs) from 10 clubs Tuesday at the league headquarters in Seoul. The season was supposed to have begun last Saturday, but the COVID-19 outbreak forced the KBO to postpone the start indefinitely. Last Tuesday, the board of governors -

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

Tottenham Hotspur's injured South Korean star Son Heung-min has returned home to continue his rehab for a fractured arm, due to the spread of the coronavirus in Britain, sources said Monday. They said Son arrived back in South Korea from London on Saturday afternoon. Son suffered a broken right forearm during a Premier League match against Aston Villa on Feb. 16 and underwent surgery in Seoul five days later. He returned to London earlier this month, and following a two-week self-isolation pe

　With the 2020 Olympics postponed until 2021, there are fears the delay will shatter the gold medal hopes of many aging athletes. 　AFP Sport looks at six evergreen stars for whom a delayed Tokyo Games might be a step too far. 　 1. Roger Federer 　The 20-time Grand Slam champion, who will be 40 in August 2021, won Olympic gold when he partnered Stan Wawrinka to the men’s doubles title at the 2008 Beijing Games. Federer was a quarterfinalist in singles in China and a silver medalist in 2

Some 500 South Korean Olympic athletes and coaches have temporarily moved out of their main training facility over the past two days, setting themselves up for a breather after the postponement of this year's Summer Games in Tokyo. Acting on an order by the Korea Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC), athletes and coaches in about a dozen sports packed up and left the Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, some 90 kilometers south of Seoul. About 200 from table tennis, archery, diving,

The South Korean national football federation on Thursday asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to adjust the age restriction on male players at next year's Summer Games in Tokyo so that those who helped the country qualify will still be eligible to play in the rescheduled competition. The Olympic men's football tournament is only open to players who are 23 or younger, except for a maximum three overage players permitted for each nation. For the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, those born on or

Olympic gymnastics champion Yang Hak-seon had been peaking just in time for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games, originally slated to start July 24. When the men's vault gold medalist from the 2012 London Games heard the news Tuesday night that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had postponed the Olympics to 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, his first thought was, "How am I going to keep doing this for another year?" "I wanted to be able to compete in the Olympics when m

Faced with a financial crunch stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, the South Korean national football federation will temporarily slash the pay of its executives. The Korea Football Association (KFA) said Thursday the monthly salaries for its senior executives, starting from department directors and above, will be cut by 20 percent beginning this month. The pay cut may remain in effect through the end of the year, according to a KFA official. The KFA's revenue is expected to fall by an est

South Korean athletes who've already qualified for the Tokyo Summer Games won't have to do so again, even though the competition has been postponed, their national Olympic committee said Wednesday. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) said International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach assured leaders of national Olympic bodies last week that athletes would not be required to requalify even if the Olympics were rescheduled. Faced with the global coronavirus pandemic, t

The postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics will mean different things to different athletes. For several South Korean male football players, it may mean the loss of a career-altering opportunity. The quadrennial competition has been pushed back to next year due to the coronavirus outbreak. The International Olympic Committee still has long ways to go before finalizing the details of the qualifying processes for different sports. No matter which direction the IOC takes, perhaps no spo