South Korea's under-23 national football team departed for Indonesia on Saturday to start their Asian Games title defense. Led by head coach Kim Hak-bum, 19 footballers took a flight from Incheon to Jakarta to compete at the 18th Asian Games. Tottenham Hotspur star Son Heung-min was the only player who didn't travel with the team at Incheon International Airport. He'll join the team on Monday after playing in Tottenham's Premier League opener against Newcastle United later Saturday.  South Korea

JINCHEON -- For athletes, it's never easy being a child of a famous parent who accomplished great things in the same sport. Not everyone grows up to be Ken Griffey Jr. in Major League Baseball or Brett Hull in the National Hockey League. The pressure to live up to the family name can be daunting.Korean artistic gymnast Yeo Seo-jeong is dealing with such a burden at the tender age of 16. Her father, Yeo Hong-chul, won the 1996 Olympic silver medal in the men's vault. It remained Korea's best indi

Two South Korean football forwards who played at this year's FIFA World Cup said Wednesday they'll use that experience to help their country defend the Asian Games gold medal. Hwang Hee-chan and Lee Seung-woo started training with South Korea's under-23 national football team for the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games at Paju Stadium in Paju, north of Seoul, on Wednesday, following their pre-season schedule with their European clubs. Lee Seung-woo and Hwang Hee-chan (Yonhap)Hwang, 22, is with Austria

JINCHEON -- Korea aims to win nine gold medals in taekwondo at this year's Asian Games, hoping it can reaffirm its reputation as the birthplace of the martial art. Korea will send 18 taekwondo practitioners -- 10 for sparring, also known as "kyorugi," and eight for poomsae -- to the Asian Games in Indonesia. All taekwondo events will be held at JCC Plenary Hall in Jakarta from Aug. 19-23.  (Yonhap)Taekwondo has been a traditional gold mine for Korea at multisport events like the Asian Games and

South Korean tennis player Chung Hyeon has withdrawn from his match against reigning Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic, as his injury-plagued season continued in Canada.Chung pulled out of his scheduled first round showdown against Djokovic at the Rogers Cup in Toronto on Tuesday (local time) with a back injury. (Yonhap)Chung, the top-ranked South Korean at No. 23, missed two months earlier this year with an ankle injury. At the Australian Open in January, Chung made a Cinderella run to the fina

Korean footballers received a World Cup bonus despite suffering a group stage exit, the national football governing body said Tuesday.The Korea Football Association said it gave out 1.15 billion won ($1.02 million) to 23 players who participated in the (Yonhap)2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Each player will equally get 50 million won for their performance at the top football tournament. Korea were eliminated in the group stage with one win and two losses. The Taeguk Warriors fell 1-0 to Sweden i

JINCHEON -- As long as she is competing, Korean epee fencer Shin A-lam will always be associated with an infamous officiating incident at the 2012 London Olympics.More than six years later, the 31-year-old says she has finally put it behind her.To recap: at London 2012, Shin reached the semifinals of the women's individual epee event and pushed the favored Britta Heidemann to sudden-death extra time. Shin and Heidemann exchanged three simultaneous hits while the clock stopped running with one se

South Korean golfer Ryu So-yeon jumped two spots to reach No. 2 in the latest women's rankings Tuesday, following her third-place finish at the Ricoh Women's British Open.Ryu has now positioned herself right behind Ariya Jutanugarn, who has been No. 1 since last week. Ryu was the top-ranked golfer from June 26 to Oct. 30 in 2017. South Korean golfer Ryu So-yeon (AFP)Ryu finished alone in third place at the Women's British Open at the Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in Lancashire, England, on

　South Korea’s under-23 football coach Kim Hak-bum said Monday diversifying scoring options will be important for his team’s success at the upcoming Asian Games. 　South Korea's 20-man squad for the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games includes five forwards and two of them -- Son Heung-min and Hwang Ui-jo -- are overage players known as wild cards. The men’s football tournament at the Asian Games is open to players aged 23 or under, but teams can field three players who are over that age limit.   Kim H

South Korea boasts the world’s No. 1-ranked men‘s sabre fencing team, one that its most senior member, 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Kim Jung-hwan, believes has the perfect balance of veteran savvy and youthful exuberance.　Kim and his team won the world title last month in China for South Korea’s second consecutive championship. Kim added an individual gold medal at the same event.　South Korea will be a heavy title favorite in the men‘s sabre team event at the Aug. 18-Sept. 2 Asian Games in Jakar

South Korea women's national football team midfielder Lee Min-a said Monday she is eager to win gold at the upcoming Asian Games. 　Lee, who plays for Japan’s INAC Kobe Leonessa, is one of the 20 players who will compete in the women‘s football competition at the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games in Indonesia. It will be her first appearance at an Asiad since she started representing the country in 2012. South Korea women`s national football team midfielder Lee Min-a (Yonhap)　“It’s always an honor to

JINCHEON, North Chungcheong Province -- Having shocked the world with an Olympic gold medal two years ago, South Korean epee fencer Park Sang-young says he's excited for a fresh challenge at this month's Asian Games.At the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics, Park, then an unheralded fencer at age 21, rallied from a 14-10 deficit against Geza Imre of Hungary in the final, winning five straight points to capture the least expected of South Korea's nine gold medals.He has since gone through some u

Indoor surfing at Flow House SeoulIf traveling all the way to a beach does not fit your schedule, there is the option of indoor surfing at Flow House Seoul in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Practice balancing on a board at this establishment, which touts itself as a transplanted California beach. Training sessions are available at 350,000 won ($315) per hour for a group of eight to 11. For a group of four, an hour’s flow riding starts at 40,000 won per head without lesson. Flow House Seoul opens dai

Curious first-time surfers catch the wave as surfing shops spring up on local beaches

JINCHEON -- Sports Minister Do Jong-whan visited South Korean athletes preparing for the Asian Games at the national training venue Thursday.Do met with the athletes in volleyball, judo, boxing, taekwondo and karate at the Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, about 90 kilometers south of Seoul, and was also briefed on South Korea's preparations for the Aug. 18-Sept. 2 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia. (Yonhap)Do also spoke with players on the unified Korean women's baske