Park Byung-ho of the Minnesota Twins picked up his first preseason hit and RBI in Florida on Thursday.Park singled home a run in the bottom of the second inning against the Boston Red Sox starter Rick Porcello. It was Park's second preseason start in as many days.Park went hitless in his next two plate appearances and ended the game 1-for-3. The Twins lost the game 6-5 in Fort Myers.On Wednesday, Park, who signed with the Twins in the offseason, went 0-for-3 against the Red Sox, striking out thr

When South Korean women's football head coach Yoon Duk-yeo said last month his team could reach the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this year, local fans praised him for his confidence, but at the same time, there were doubts.Yet after two hard-fought draws against heavy favorites, South Korea still have a shot at qualifying for their first Olympics, as improbable as it seems.South Korea, which have never reached the Summer Games since women's football was first contested in Atla

His lengthy doping suspension is now behind him, but South Korean Olympic swimming champion Park Tae-hwan still faces a murky future, with no assurance that he will be eligible for this year's Summer Games.The 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the 400m freestyle was slapped with an 18-month ban last March by FINA, the international swimming governing body. Park tested positive for testosterone, and the suspension began retroactively on Sept. 3, 2014, when FINA collected his samples.The ban ended Wed

The Minnesota Twins' Park Byung-ho struck out three times in three at-bats in his first preseason appearance in Major League Baseball in Florida on Wednesday.Elsewhere in the Sunshine State, St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Oh Seung-hwan, another South Korean readying for his first big league season, tossed one perfect inning in his U.S. debut.Park, who joined the Twins via posting in December, made his first start for the Twins as a designated hitter batting sixth against the Boston Red Sox in

Chung Mong-gyu, president of the Korea Football Association, is set to be named the head of the South Korean athletic delegation for the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a senior football official said on Wednesday.According to the KFA official, who asked not to be named, Chung recently received a request from the Korean Olympic Committee to lead the South Korean squad at the Rio Games and he is "positively" reviewing the offer. A KOC official confirmed Wednesday that South Korea'

South Korea held favored North Korea to a 1-1 draw at the final Asian women's Olympic football qualifying tournament Monday in Japan, a decent start to the quest for their maiden Summer Games appearance.At Yanmar Stadium Nagai in Osaka, Jung Seol-bin put the 18th-ranked South Korea on board just past the half-hour mark, but Kim Un-ju scored the 79th-minute equalizer for world No. 6 North Korea to salvage a draw.The result snapped South Korea's losing streak against North Korea at nine. North Kor

Former Olympic-winning marathoner Hwang Young-cho is still excited when he talks about his gold medal run at the 1992 Summer Olympics Games in Barcelona, Spain.Hwang's victory washed out South Koreans' painful memory that dates back to 1936. At the Berlin Olympics, the late Sohn Kee-chung took gold in marathon but couldn't celebrate his victory because he had to wear the Japanese flag as Korea was under Japan's colonization."Sohn had said he wanted to see a Korean runner celebrating with the Oly

President Park Geun-hye congratulated three South Korean athletes for winning medals at the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation World Cup, Cheong Wa Dae said Monday.The bobsleigh team of Won Yun-jong and Seo Young-woo captured their second career gold medal, while skeleton slider Yun Sung-bin won silver at the eighth and final International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation World Cup in Konigssee, Germany, on Saturday.Park said in a message to the three athletes that she hopes that they

South Korea's Shin Ji-yai won the Australian RACV Ladies Masters after shooting a 4-under 69 for a three-stroke victory Sunday at Royal Pines Resort.Shin sealed the victory with a 14-under total of 278, edging out England's Holly Clyburn who shot an 11-under total of 281 at the Ladies European Tour event in Cold Coast.The victory made Shin the second South Korean to win the Australian Ladies Masters after Yang Hee-young's triumph in 2006.Shin was the British Open champ in 2008 and 2012 and has w

After facing live pitching for the first time since joining the Minnesota Twins, South Korean slugger Park Byung-ho said Saturday he didn't see anything straight at the plate.The Twins had their first full workout here in Florida, and Park, who signed with the Twins earlier in the offseason after getting posted by his South Korean club Nexen Heroes, faced actual pitching for the first time since competing at the Premier 12 tournament in November.And his impression: There was "nothing clean.""I a

South Korean rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae established a personal best to grab silver in the individual all-around at the season's first World Cup stop Saturday in Finland.Son earned a career-high 73.550 points in total from hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon over two days at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Cup in Espoo, Finland. She finished runner-up to Aleksandra Soldatova of Russia, who earned 73.750 points from her four events.Son was third after hoop (18.400) and ball (18.350) programs Friday, and

The South Korean bobsleigh team of Won Yun-jong and Seo Young-woo secured a season-ending No. 1 ranking with a victory in Germany on Saturday.Won, the pilot, and Seo, his brakeman, captured their second career gold medal at the eighth and the final International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup of the 2015-2016 season in Konigssee, Germany, with a combined time of 1:39.50 after two runs. Their first World Cup title came in January in Whistler, British Columbia.The South Koreans h

Having thrown live batting practice for the first time with the St. Louis Cardinals, South Korean reliever Oh Seung-hwan said Thursday he will mostly stick to his tried and tested arsenal in the majors.Oh faced hitters for the first time Wednesday to solid reviews. Infielder Greg Garcia said Oh's ball "was jumping" and the right-hander didn't offer up anything straight.Oh, a lights-out closer in both South Korea and Japan for a decade before joining the Cards this offseason, built his career mos

The South Korean sports ministry plans to meet the International Olympic Committee next week with two leaders of local sports governing bodies at odds over their merger, a government official said Friday.An official at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports told Yonhap News Agency that the ministry is preparing to send its vice minister Kim Chong, along with the Korean Olympic Committee head Kim Jung-haeng and the Korea Council of Sport for All chief Kang Young-joong, to Lausanne, Switzerla