MOSCOW (AFP) ― Figure skating superstars Kim Yu-na and Mao Asada will rekindle their long-running rivalry in the relocated world figure skating championships starting here on Monday. The championships, originally scheduled to take place in Tokyo a month ago, were moved to Russia following the devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11. All four reigning champions are back to defend their tit...

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) ― A bunch of White Sox players started hitting again, all at once. Omar Vizquel, A.J. Pierzynski, Carlos Quentin and Paul Konerko each drove in two runs and the White Sox stopped a seven-game losing streak with a 9-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night. “That’s the way we expected to play everyday, to be honest with you,” Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen ...

Chill out, shake off extra kilos on the dance floor Spring is truly in the air and it is time to start getting in shape, peel off our heavy winter clothes and enjoy the sunshine. Now the question is which exercise? When it comes to training, we generally think of dumbbells, barbells and weightlifting machines. We already know that going to the gym and running on a treadmill is not the best sol...

BARCELONA (AFP) ― Top seed Rafael Nadal extended his current clay court win streak to 31 matches as the Spaniard overcame an early run of breaks to post a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Santiago Giraldo on Thursday at the ATP Barcelona Open. Nadal is bidding for a sixth title at his “home” event in seven editions after missing 2010 due to treatment on a knee injury. He moved into the quarterfinals in le...

South Korean figure skater Kim Yu-na said Friday she’s well prepared to pursue her second world title in Russia next week after an extra month of training on home ice. “I hope I can compete as well as I’ve done in my practices,” Kim told reporters at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, before departing for Moscow, the venue for this year’s World Figure Skating Championships. “The key...

How could anyone have ever thought the 2011 Formula One season was going to be a walkover for any driver? Yes, Red Bull’s championship leader Sebastian Vettel has the fastest package. But with the introduction of the Pirelli tires, Drag Reduction System and KERS, the 2011 F1 Grand race is not all about speed ― it is about strategic wisdom, big brains, big guts. And these are far more complicated...

CHENGDU, China (AFP) ― Three-time major winner Padraig Harrington and South Korea’s Yang Yong-eun will both be hoping to defy recent history at the Volvo China Open. Harrington will be looking for a sharp upturn in form after a poor start to 2011 which has seen the Irishman struggle with a neck injury and miss the cut at the Masters. Korea’s Yang, who became the first Asian to win a major when ...

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors were the only team among four South Korean K-League representatives to earn a victory this week at an ongoing continental club competition, while two Korean teams suffered defeats and another was held to a draw. At home in Jeonju, 243 kilometers south of Seoul, on Wednesday, Jeonbuk beat Cerezo Osaka 1-0 to move into first place in Group G of the Asian Football Confederati...

VALENCIA, Spain (AP) ― Cristiano Ronaldo headed home the winner in extra time as Real Madrid ended an 18-year Copa del Rey trophy drought with a 1-0 victory over biggest rival Barcelona on Wednesday. Ronaldo guided Angel Di Maria’s 103rd-minute pass back across goal and past the outstretched hand of goalkeeper Jose Manuel Pinto into the top corner as Madrid won silverware for the first time sinc...

Is this the end of the road for Lee Seung-yeop? The Korean slugger of the Orix Buffaloes is in one of the worst slumps of his career in his seventh spell at the Japanese top-division baseball league. It is still early in the 2011 season, but the opening games saw the veteran hitter struggle to connect on pitches, picking up just two hits in the past seven games. On Tuesday, Lee went 0 for 3 in ...

South Korean figure skater Kim Yu-na will go for her second world title next week in Moscow, the new venue for the rescheduled World Figure Skating Championships. The International Skating Union will run the season’s final competition from April 24-May 1. The event had been scheduled for March 20-27 in Tokyo, but was postponed after a devastating earthquake hit Japan earlier in March. Kim will ...

The 2011 K-League season is proving to be nothing if not unpredictable. Usual minnows such as Daejeon Citizen, Daegu FC and Sangju Sangmu are enjoying the rarified air near the top of the standings while there are some prestigious names floundering in the depths of the 16-team league. Just take a look at FC Seoul and Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma. Seoul lifted the domestic title in December just a month...

One-run games on the rise in Korean baseball league Games decided by the smallest of margins in South Korea’s top baseball league have been on the rise in the early going of the season, a trend that experts say has been exciting for fans but distressing to managers. In the first 52 games in the Korea Baseball Organization through Sunday, 18 games, or 35 percent, have been decided by a single ru...