Park Soon-ho, a corporate executive and sports administrator recently named the chief South Korean delegate to this year’s Asian Games at home, on Friday offered a realistic goal for the host country.“We have finished second in the medals in the past four Asian Games in a row, and our objective is to rank in second place again,” Park said at a press conference held at the National Training Center in Seoul. “We hope to win more than 90 gold medals.” Korea has played second fiddle to China in ever

South Korea will play two football friendly matches in September in preparation for a major continental competition set for early next year, an official with the national football governing body said Friday, with Uruguay and Venezuela as potential opponents.“We’re preparing for two matches in September, and two more matches each in October and November,” an official at the Korea Football Agency said. “Our plan is to play six matches over the rest of this year in preparation for the Asian Cup (in

GIMCHEON (Yonhap) ― South Korean swimming star Park Tae-hwan set a national record in the 200-meter individual medley on Thursday, qualifying for the upcoming Asian Games in the process.At the South Korean national team trials held in Gimcheon, Park won the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:00.31. He shed 0.10 second off the previous record, set by Kim Min-gyu in December 2009.The winners of each race here will qualify for this year’s Asian Games.The individual medley event requires a swimm

It’s deja vu all over again in the top South Korean baseball league as it enters the All-Star break, with a familiar face sitting pretty in first place despite recent hiccups.The Samsung Lions, the three-time defending champs of the Korea Baseball Organization, are at the top of the standings in the nine-team league at 49 wins, 27 losses and two draws. They’re 3 1/2 games ahead of the Nexen Heroes, despite losing the final four games of the first half.The Heroes, who made their first postseason

A new generation emerging at golf’s oldest major

More than four in 10 South Koreans would rather have a foreign coach take over their men's national football team than a local figure, a poll showed Thursday.Gallup Korea said in its survey of 681 adults, 43 percent said they'd like to see a foreign national lead the football team, compared with 39 percent who said they wanted a South Korean at the helm.The job has been vacant since last Thursday, when former national team captain Hong Myung-bo resigned in the wake of the country's subpar perfor

GIMCHEON (Yonhap) ― South Korean swimming star Park Tae-hwan on Wednesday booked a spot in the men’s 200-meter freestyle race in the upcoming Asian Games with the world-leading time of the year.At the South Korean national team trials held in Gimcheon, Park finished the race in 1:45.25.It’s the fastest time in the men’s 200-meter freestyle this year, bettering Australian swimmer Cameron McEvoy’s time of 1:45.58.The winners of each race here will qualify for the Asian Games.

A relatively unknown Danish football coach has emerged as an early, unlikely candidate for the vacant South Korean national team head coaching position, though the sport’s governing body remains lukewarm about his interest.The Danish sports paper Tipsbladet reported online on Tuesday that Michael Schjonberg, a 47-year-old assistant coach of the Norwegian club Valerenga, has been approached by South Korea about the top national team position.Hong Myung-bo resigned as the South Korean bench boss l

South Korea will not face its archrival Japan in a soccer friendly match this year, the national governing body of the sport said Wednesday, rejecting a series of recent media reports out of Tokyo.“The Japanese papers have been reporting that South Korea and Japan will play each other in a friendly this year,” an official at the Korea Football Association said Thursday. “But we have absolutely no plans to face Japan this year.” This was the second time this month that the KFA has had to refute J

Former Major League Baseball player Luke Scott was released by his South Korean club SK Wyverns on Wednesday following a heated exchange with his manager in public.The Wyverns said they have placed the 36-year-old veteran on the waivers a day after Scott got into a verbal spat with his manager Lee Man-soo. Their exchange took place on the field at the Wyverns' home Munhak Stadium in Incheon, hours before they were to host the Hanwha Eagles.Scott, with 135 career homers in the majors and three co