South Korean pitcher Koo Chang-mo has been as unlucky with injuries as he has been great on the mound. One of the country's top starters in recent years, Koo was forced to miss international action lately because of untimely injuries. The stars have finally aligned for the 25-year-old this year, as Koo is gearing up for the World Baseball Classic in March. In a phone conversation with Yonhap News Agency on Thursday, one day after being named to the 30-man national team, Koo said he is on th

Tottenham Hotspur's South Korean star Son Heung-min has found the back of the net for the first time in nine Premier League matches. Son scored off his left foot in the 72nd minute of Spurs' 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in London on Wednesday. Son now has four goals in 16 matches in the league this season. He had scored in only one other match this season, with a hat trick against Leicester City in September. This has been a down season for Son, who tied Mohamed Sal

In the 2023 season in South Korean baseball, perhaps no manager will be under as much spotlight and scrutiny as the Doosan Bears' first-year skipper, Lee Seung-yuop. It comes with the territory of being one of the greatest players in Korea Baseball Organization history. Lee is the league's career home run leader with 467 and also owns the single-season record with 56 from the 2003 season. He is also the only five-time regular season most valuable player in league history. All eyes will

A handful of current and former big leaguers should join domestic league stars when South Korea announces its roster for the World Baseball Classic this week. The Korea Baseball Organization is scheduled to unveil the national team roster for the March 8-21 tournament on Wednesday. As of Tuesday morning, however, it hadn't been determined whether national team manager Lee Kang-chul will announce the 35-man provisional roster or the 30-man final roster on Wednesday, well ahead of the Feb. 7

Suwon Samsung Bluewings announced Monday their veteran midfielder Yeom Ki-hun will be back for one more season as a player-coach. Yeom, 39, had told the K League 1 club after the 2022 season that he wanted to retire. Head coach Lee Byung-geun, however, convinced him to return for another go, and Yeom agreed to a new one-year deal as a player-coach. Yeom made his K League debut with Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in 2006 and joined Suwon four years later. Over the past dozen years, the crafty midfielder

The Beijing Winter Olympics and the FIFA World Cup in Qatar bookended the action-packed sporting year of 2022 for South Korea. And there will be no shortage of international events for the country in the new year, with the World Baseball Classic getting the ball rolling in March. It will be followed by the FIFA Women's World Cup in July, with Australia and New Zealand as co-hosts. The 19th Asian Games, postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are scheduled for September in the Chin

Playing without his protective mask for the first time since suffering facial injuries in November, Son Heung-min still couldn't guide Tottenham Hotspur past Aston Villa at home on New Year's Day. Son tossed aside his black facial mask midway through the first half of a Premier League match against Aston Villa at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Sunday (local time). He appeared visibly frustrated after getting stripped of the ball in the preceding play and played the rest of the

Pele, the Brazilian soccer legend who died of cancer Wednesday at age 82, is widely regarded as one of the best players in sports history. His numerous accolades include being the only player to win three World Cups in 1958, 1962 and 1970, and being the most prolific goal-scorer in Brazil’s history by netting 77 goals, a record he shares with Neymar. In 1999, the International Olympic Committee elected Pele the Athlete of the Century, while he was also selected as FIFA Player of the Centur

At an age when most athletes find themselves on the downslope of their careers, South Korean speed skater Lee Seung-hoon, about two months shy of his 35th birthday, isn't letting up. Even with six medals from four Winter Olympic Games under his belt, Lee is still hungry. And if his recent performances are any indication, Lee remains competitive, too. "My goal moving forward is to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics," Lee said through his agency, IHQ, on Thursday, one day after cap

Pele, the Brazilian king of soccer who won a record three World Cups and became one of the most commanding sports figures of the last century, died Thursday. He was 82. The standard-bearer of “the beautiful game” had undergone treatment for colon cancer since 2021. The medical center where he had been hospitalized for the last month said he died of multiple organ failure as a result of the cancer. “Pele changed everything. He transformed football into art, entertainment,”

Pele will be famous for 15 centuries. The Brazilian soccer star said Andy Warhol told him that. It was a twist on something else the American artist is widely credited with saying, that “in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Warhol made the soccer star’s portrait in 1977, and Pele took great pride in turning his sports fame into decades of global affection and renown. For most Brazilians Pele was a cultural and social phenomenon. He was the country&rsquo

INCHEON -- Toronto Blue Jays starter Ryu Hyun-jin said Thursday he is "right on schedule" in his rehab from his summer elbow operation that had cut his 2022 season short, adding he is targeting a July return to the mound. Ryu left South Korea for the United States on Thursday morning to continue his recovery from Tommy John elbow reconstructive surgery he'd had in June this year. The 35-year-old had spent about a month with his family in his native country. In previous offseasons,

Kansas City Royals catching prospect Um Hyung-chan was named the top South Korean high school catcher of the year Thursday. Um was the winner of the Best Catcher category at the sixth annual Lee Man-soo Awards, named after the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) catching legend. Um, backstop for Gyeonggi Commercial High School in Seoul, signed with the Royals in July. He batted .390/.446/.585 with three home runs, 30 RBIs and 22 runs scored in 21 games in 2022. Um has also been known for a stron

With the Hanwha Eagles' signing of former big league outfielder Brian O'Grady Wednesday, the LG Twins are the only team without a foreign hitter in the fold for next season in the Korea Baseball Organization. And it hasn't been for lack of trying. The Twins were among the first teams to fill that spot. On Dec. 6, they announced the signing of new outfielder Abraham Almonte to a one-year, $800,000 deal. But four days later, the deal was voided, as Almonte failed to pass the physica

INCHEON-- Lady Luck seems to be finally smiling down on South Korean speed skater Kim Jun-ho this season, after the 27-year-old had suffered some bad fortune on the ice for years. Kim has gone from losing out on medals by fractions of a second to winning them by miniscule margins. Kim opened the International Skating Union World Cup season in November with a bronze medal in the men's 500 meters. He added another bronze in the 500m earlier this month and then claimed his first World Cup ti