Sandwiched by two traditional powers and an upstart nation poised to mount a challenge, South Korea will try to remain among the top three regional winter sports leaders at the upcoming Asian Winter Games. The seventh edition of the quadrennial winter sports competition will kick off on Sunday in Kazakhstan and run until Feb. 6. Astana and Almaty, the country’s two largest cities, will split the...

Chung Mong-gyu, chairman of South Korean construction firm Hyundai Development Co., was nominated Wednesday as the new chairman of the first-division football league in South Korea. If approved, Chung, 49, will replace Kwak Chung-hwan, who recently resigned as head of the K-League. The league will convene a general assembly Thursday to formally elect him. Chung also serves as the owner of Busan...

Pittsburgh Steelers embrace underdog status in Super Bowl PITTSBURGH (AP) ― The mighty Pittsburgh Steelers, equipped with a record six Super Bowl titles, a 14-4 record, the No. 2 AFC seed and a veteran roster on the verge of three championships in the past six seasons, are underdogs for Super Bowl XLV. Really? Don’t worry. It’s not you. It doesn’t make much sense to the Steelers, either. But ...

PITTSBURGH (AP) ― The Pittsburgh Steelers found a fitting way to shut down the New York Jets’ season. What started with “Hard Knocks,” ended with hard knocks. For the third time in six seasons, Terrible Towels will twirl at the Super Bowl. The Steelers silenced Rex Ryan’s wild bunch with a fumble return for a touchdown and a goal-line stand in a 24-19 victory for the AFC championship Sunday. Th...

Muju resort in North Jeolla Province staged a bikini ski contest on Jan. 22. The cold weather did not stop participants, clad only in bikinis and ski boots, from going down the slope. Muju resort awarded the participants at the contest according to audience’s applause. The prizes ranged from 500,000 won ($446) to the highest, 4 million won ($3,573). 22일 전북 무주군 설천면 무주리조트 만선 베이스 루키힐 슬로프에서 '2011 무...

BERLIN – Paul the celebrated octopus has finally got his tentacles wrapped around a soccer ball. The Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen on Thursday unveiled an outsized memorial to the World Cup's most unlikely star: A 6 1/2-foot (2-meter) tall plastic replica of Paul clutching a ball in his eight arms. The two-meter-tall statue has been revealed for Paul the Octopus, the tentacled tipster who fas...

Korean national sports delegation held Friday their inaugural ceremony for the upcoming Asian Winter Games, which is slated for Jan. 30-Feb. 6 in Kazakhstan. Korea is sending 150 athletes and officials to the games, vowing to accomplish a back-to-back third place finish at the seventh Winter Asiad. Four years ago at Asia’s biggest winter extravaganza in Changchun, China, Korea came in third pla...

South Korea’s top men’s doubles badminton duo said on Friday they’re ready to defend their Korea Open championship when the world’s most lucrative badminton event starts next week. The tandem of Jung Jae-sung and Lee Yong-dae said they’re looking forward to competing against the world’s best players before home fans, adding they’re going to bear down especially hard. Lee Yong-dae “There are a ...

South Korea will meet its old football nemesis Iran in the quarterfinals of the ongoing Asian Cup in Doha, Qatar, at 1:25 a.m. Sunday, Korean time, for their fifth straight showdown in the final eight of the regional tournament. South Korea’s poor history against Iran ― with no victories in their last six meetings ― has been well-documented. The first loss for Cho Kwang-rae, the current South Ko...

NEWPORT, Rhode Island (AFP) ― Eight-time Grand Slam singles champion Andre Agassi, among only seven men to achieve a career Grand Slam, has been elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, officials said Thursday. Agassi’s induction ceremony will be conducted July 9 at the Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, during the ATP Hall of Fame Championships grass-court event. He will be the onl...

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) ― Rafael Nadal’s quest to complete his “Rafa Slam” at the Australian Open started with a first-round victory that lasted only 11 games and certainly helped him conserve plenty of energy. The No. 1-ranked Nadal went straight to the practice courts and worked on his serve, later saying it needs work to improve his chances of winning the Australian title. The 24-year-old ...

Win over India would assure place in last 8 With just one match remaining in the group stage of the 2011 Asian Cup, South Korea is in the position it probably expected to be in ― just needing to defeat India on Tuesday (10:15 p.m. Korean time) to book a place in the last eight. It would be a huge shock if that didn’t happen as the team ranked 40 in the world, according to FIFA, takes on an oppos...

The chief organizer of Korean F1 Grand Prix is planning to sue over his dismissal, a source close to him said Sunday. Chung Young-cho, the head of the Korea Auto Valley Operation, the operating body of F1 Korean Grand Prix, was dismissed from his post following a board meeting on Friday. In an emergency meeting, shareholders of KAVO voted to oust Chung along with two other top officials due to ...

Some of the world’s top golfers are to vie for Korea’s biggest golf tournament this April. The world’s No.1 Lee Westwood, three-time major champion Ernie Els, No.10 Ian Poulter and Asia’s first major winner Y.E Yang will be among those competing in the Ballantine’s Championship, organizers announced on Monday. “We are delighted to announce that Westwood, Els, Poulter and Yang will all be competi...