PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province ― A panel of the International Olympic Committee arrived in PyeongChang on Monday to evaluate the city’s bid to host the Winter Olympics. PyeongChang, the popular winter sports resort city in Gangwon Province, is competing against Munich of Germany and the French town of Annecy for the 2018 Winter Games.The 14-member delegation, led by Gunilla Lindberg of Sweden, visi

SAO PAULO (AP) _ Three-time FIFA player of the year Ronaldo will announce his retirement from football on Monday, according to a Brazilian newspaper.``It's time,'' Ronaldo was quoted as saying by the website of the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper on Sunday. ``I can't keep going. I wanted to continue but I can't. I think about making a play but I can't execute it.'' (AP)Ronaldo's agent, Fabiano Farah,

IOC evaluation commission makes on-site inspection this weekPYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province ― Early Saturday morning in PyeongChang local residents were busy clearing streets after 78 centimeters of snow fell in one day ― the most in more than 100 years. People from almost every home and office were wielding snow shovels, digging the sidewalks and the roads. Some even brought plow trucks to help red

DUBAI (AP) ― Tiger Woods overcame a poor start in windy conditions Saturday to shoot a par 72, one shot behind leader Rory McIlroy and two others going into the final round of the Dubai Desert Classic.On dusty day in the desert when the wind reached 28 mph, Woods showed an uncanny ability to repeatedly rally. He finished with a total of 7-under 209, behind second-round leader McIlroy (75), Denmark

In Monaco, defender Igor Lolo opened the scoring for the hosts with a bouncing shot after three minutes.France international Kevin Gameiro leveled for Lorient in the 22nd with a first-time strike into the top corner off a long pass from Morgan Amalfitano. Monaco forward Park Chu-young (right) celebrates his goal against Lorient. (AFP-Yonhap News)Thomas Mangani outpaced the Lorient defense to give

PEBBLE BEACH, California (AP) ― D.A. Points knew it was going to be a great week at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am when he found out Bill Murray was his amateur partner.It got even better Thursday.Points found Murray’s antics to be more amusing than annoying, and it showed in his play. With eight birdies on the Shore Course at Monterey Peninsula, he opened with a 7-under 63 and shared the lead w

BOSTON (AP) ― Kobe Bryant scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half, and the Los Angeles Lakers spoiled Ray Allen’s record-setting night by beating the Boston Celtics 92-86 in an NBA finals rematch Thursday night.Allen became the NBA’s career leader in 3-pointers in the first quarter, but Bryant later put him on the bench in foul trouble during his big second half that rallied Los Angeles from

Newcomers fill void left by Park and LeeManagers do not often feel pressure before going into a friendly match. But for Korean national team manager Cho Kwang-rae, there was much to think about when he faced Guss Hiddink’s Turkish side Wednesday night in Trabzon, Turkey. Turkey manager Guus Hiddink reacts during the match against Korea. (Yonhap News)It was his first match without the team’s two mo

Lionel Messi converted a 90th-minute penalty kick to give Argentina a dramatic 2-1 exhibition victory over Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo, while France maintained its revival under coach Laurent Blanc with a 1-0 win over five-time world champion Brazil on Wednesday night.Ronaldo scored a tying goal in the 21st minute equalizer in Geneva, but the Real Madrid forward was upstaged by his Barcelona ri

South Korea drew 0-0 with 10-man Turkey, led by Dutchman Guus Hiddink, who coached the Asian team to the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup, in a friendly held Wednesday in the Turkish port city of Trabzon. (Yonhap News)In the friendly at Huseyin Avni Aker Stadium, the South Koreans were not able to capitalize on their numerical advantage against Turkey, whose captain Emre Belozoglu was red carded e

World No. 1 snowboarder hopes to see more Korean challengersPYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province ― Austrian snowboarder Benjamin Karl says he would like to see more Korean boarders compete at world-class level and more people enjoy the sport.The current world No.1 had a commanding victory Wednesday in the parallel giant slalom event at Yongpyong Resort. It was the Austrian’s fourth consecutive World Cup

16 companies agree to open new stores if the city wins Games bid A group of Korean retailers vowed to back PyeongChang’s bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics and signed a memorandum of understanding with the bid committee on Tuesday. Sixteen companies, including Lotte Group, which operates chains of Lotte Department Store, Lotte Mart and Lotte Super and retail giant GS Group, have agreed to open n

A South Korean online game company has been tabbed as the owner of a new local professional baseball team.The Korea Baseball Organization on Tuesday gave the green light to NCsoft Corps., the game developer, to begin work on founding the ninth club in the top-division baseball league in South Korea. The expansion team will be based in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, about 400 kilometers south