South Korean outfielder Choo Shin-soo of Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians has filed for salary arbitration in hopes of getting a large raise following the best season of his career.Choo was among 119 players who filed for arbitration on Saturday, according to Major League Baseball. The left-handed outfielder received $461,100 last year, slightly above the major league minimum, while putti

    DOHA (AFP) - Australia and South Korea shared the spoils 1-1 in the battle of the big guns at the Asian Cup on Friday as both sides inched closer to the quarter-finals.   The two Asian heavyweights are both seen as potential tournament winnersbut neither could find the decisive winner at the three-quarters full Al-Gharafa Stadium.   Exciting Jeju United 21-year-old Koo Ja-cheol, who has alread

MADRID (AFP) ― Real Madrid fought back from a goal down to defeat city rivals Atletico 3-1 in the first leg of the Spanish Cup quarter-finals Thursday.Atletico were ahead after just seven minutes at the Santiago Bernabeu when Uruguayan striker Diego Forlan was on target following a bright burst from Sergio Aguero which was ended by goalkeeper Iker Casillas’ clumsy challenge.But Sergio Ramos powere

 AUSTIN, Texas (AFP) ― U.S. Olympic hero Michael Phelps returns to the competition pool for the first time since late August when he races in the Austin Grand Prix long course meeting that starts here Friday.USA Swimming said Phelps was slated to compete in the three-day event, the second of seven events in the domestic Grand Prix series.Ryan Lochte, who earned six short course world titles and se

SYDNEY (AFP) ― Two-time champion Kim Clijsters will play China’s Li Na in the final of the Sydney International after a marathon three-set victory on Thursday.Clijsters struggled early in the heat before storming home in a final set tiebreaker to overcome unseeded Russian Alisa Kleybanova, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/1) in 2hr 39min.The Belgian third seed will now take on Li, who earlier wore down Serbian qu

Take top 3 spots in ski-jumping event in PyeongChangPYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province -- Slovenian ski jumper Matjaz Pungertar cleared 135 and 129.5 meters to win the FIS Continental Cup on Thursday at the Alpensia ski jump stadium in PyeongChang. Fellow Slovenian Rok Zima, who claimed second place at the first round Wednesday, finished just 9 points behind the winner after nailing 134 and 128.5 meter

Cho Kwang-rae aims to crack tough defenseSouth Korea is coming off a solid 2-1 win over Bahrain on Tuesday to start its Asian Cup football tournament in Qatar, but the real test is set for Friday.At 10:15 p.m. Friday, Korean time, South Koreans will face Australia, the highest-ranked team at this year’s Asian Cup at No. 26 in the world.This is Australia’s second Asian Cup appearance since the coun

   The coach credited with grooming swimmer Park Tae-hwan to become an Olympic gold medalist abruptly announced Thursday that he was resigning as head coach of the national team, a move that followed Park's recruitment of a foreign private coach.   Roh Min-sang started coaching Park when the swimmer was 7, two years after his parents introduced him to swimming to heal asthma.National swimming coac

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province -- Matjaz Pungertar of Slovenia beat fellow countryman Zima Rok and Germany’s Julian Musiol to claim his first career title at the PyeongChang FIS Continental Cup title Wednesday.The 20-year-old had the day’s longest effort of 134.5 meters on the K-125 hill and followed up with a 128-meter leap to win the title with a total of 249.5 points at the Alpensia ski jump sta

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province ― Korea is still in its early days of ski jumping, but national team coach Kim Heung-soo says they are progressing rapidly through a newly built jumping slope. Some of the world’s top level ski jumpers on Wednesday had their first taste of the snow-covered Alpensia ski jumping slopes for the FIS Continental Cup, slated for Jan. 12-13.PyeongChang is holding the two-day

Jo Tong-sop's squad misses penalty shot in 6th minuteDOHA (AP) ― The United Arab Emirates restored some pride to the Gulf teams Tuesday by holding North Korea to a 0-0 draw in its opening Group D match of the Asian Cup.North Korea, which qualified for last year’s World Cup, should have taken the lead in the sixth minute but captain Hong Yong-jo hit the bar with a penalty after Hamdan Al Kamali pus

Koo scores brace as Korea trips Bahrain to open Asian CupKorean national team manager Cho Kwang-rae praised midfielder Koo Ja-cheol after watching his side’s 2-1 win over Bahrain in their Asian Cup group match Monday at the Al Gharafa Stadium in Doha, Qatar.The 22-year-old Jeju United player was the hero of the night. Koo not only scored a brace to claim the victory, but was instrumental throughou

PyeongChang delivered its candidature file Monday to the International Olympic Committee for its bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.Cho Yang-ho, CEO of Pyeong-Chang’s 2018 bid committee, joined by Korean bobsleigh team coach Kang Kwang-bae and short-track speed-skating gold medalist Choi Min-kyung, headed to Lausanne, Switzerland to hand in the finalized bid book to the IOC ahead of the Jan. 11