Despite having made progress in its 2018 Winter Games preparations, South Korean host PyeongChang faces a race against time, a senior international Olympic official said Thursday.Gunilla Lindberg, head of the International Olympic Committee's Coordination Commission on PyeongChang, told Yonhap News Agency in Kuala Lumpur that time will be of essence for host South Korea's first Winter Olympics."Time is very crucial," Lindberg said when asked about challenges for PyeongChang, whose preparations h

Denis Ten has been the most accomplished figure skater to come out of Kazakhstan, having bagged an Olympic bronze and a world championships silver. Now the 22-year-old is trying to duplicate such success off the ice, as Almaty tries to win the right to host the 2022 Winter Games.As an athlete ambassador for the bidding committee for the largest city in Kazakhstan, which is battling Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics, Ten on Wednesday gushed about the progress Almaty has made."Our idea and conc

The chief organizer for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics said Monday that efforts are already under way to reduce the cost of running South Korea's first Winter Games.  At a press conference also marking his first anniversary as the head of the organizing committee, Cho Yang-ho said he hopes to learn from the recent Summer Universiade held in another South Korean city, Gwangju.  The multisport competition for student athletes received positive reviews from international officials for its fru

The creative chief of the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics said Monday he will try to stage shows that can help expand the country's cultural influence.  Song Seung-whan, actor-turned-director and head of a local production firm, was named earlier in July as the executive creative director of the ceremonies at South Korea's first Winter Games. Meeting the press for the first time Monday, Song said he will embrace what he thinks will be the biggest challenge

The head of the South Korean athletic delegation to the ongoing Universiade on Monday said he was delighted with the country's unexpected run to the top of the medal table.At a press conference, You Byong-jin said he was also happy to have been a part of the team that will finish first in gold medals at a competition set to conclude Tuesday in Gwangju, a metropolitan city some 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul.South Korea clinched first place with 44 gold medals won through Sunday's events. Chin

South Korea fell to Chinese Taipei 3-1 (25-22, 25-16, 23-25, 28-26) in Group A action in men's volleyball at the Summer Universiade on Friday.  South Korea dropped to 1-1 for the tournament at Yeomju Gymnasium, while Chinese Taipei has now won two straight matches. It defeated Argentina on Thursday.  Wu Tsung-hsuan led Chinese Taipei's attack with 18 points while Liu Hung-min added 17. Na Gyeong-bok had 19 points for South Korea in the losing effort.  South Korea will next face Argentina on Satu

South Korea defeated Australia 3-2 (20-25, 25-20, 25-20, 20-23, 15-9) to open the men's volleyball tournament at the Summer Universiade Thursday.Down 7-5 in the decisive fifth set, South Korea reeled off eight consecutive points to take control. Australia fought back with a couple of points but committed an error to concede the match-clinching point at Yeomju Gymnasium in Gwangju.Jung Ji-seok led South Korea with 21 points and Jeong Dong-geun chipped in 17 points.Max Staples had 22 for Australia

South Korea on Thursday began its quest for a major medal haul at the upcoming Summer Universiade at home, with eyes on a top-three finish in the medal standings.The South Korean delegation held its launch ceremony at Olympic Park in Seoul. This year's Universiade, a multisport competition for university athletes, will take place in Gwangju, some 330 kilometers south of the capital, and its satellite towns from July 3 to 14.The goal for South Korea is to grab at least 25 gold medals and finish i

The South Korean delegation to the upcoming Summer Universiade on home soil has set up safety measures to fight Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, its top official said Thursday.You Byong-jin, president of the Korea University Sports Board, said a physician with expertise in MERS will join the delegation and will be charged with looking after the country's 382 athletes and 134 officials.Gwangju, about 330 kilometers south of Seoul, and its satellite towns will stage the Universiade, a multisport

The upcoming Summer Universiade to open in the South Korean city of Gwangju will be the largest in the event's history, organizers said Tuesday.The organizing committee for the Universiade said 12,737 athletes and officials from 145 nations had registered as of 3 p.m. Monday, surpassing the 11,759 who participated in the 2013 event in Kazan, Russia.This year's Universiade, a multisport competition for university athletes, will go on from July 3 to July 14 in Gwangju, a metropolitan city some 330

South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan has shifted his position on the contested injection that led to a positive doping test, a legal statement showed Thursday.Park, suspended after testing positive for testosterone, had earlier claimed he didn't know he received a hormone shot at a Seoul clinic until after learning the doping test results. The head doctor at the clinic has been indicted on the charge of professional negligence. However, in a written testimony submitted to the Seoul Central Distric

Serving a lengthy doping suspension, Park Tae-hwan has been left to train on his own with his future as murky as ever.The former Olympic swimming champ was slapped in March with an 18-month ban by FINA, the international swimming governing body, after testing positive for testosterone the previous fall.The suspension began retroactively on Sept. 3, 2014, when FINA collected Park's samples, and is set to end on March 2, 2016.It marked a low point in the otherwise decorated career of the 25-year-o

Three South Korean Olympic skating champions were named honorary ambassadors for the 2018 Winter Olympics on their home ice Thursday.The organizing committee for the PyeongChang Winter Games unveiled speed skaters Lee Seung-hoon, Mo Tae-bum and Park Seung-hi as new goodwill ambassadors for the first-ever Winter Olympics in South Korea.They will be formally introduced Saturday during the celebrations of the 1,000-day countdown to the Olympics.The organizers said they expect the three to drive up