CHICAGO (AP) ― China is facing new questions about the ages of some of its athletes after discrepancies were found in the birthdates of nine figure skaters.According to a list of birthdates published on the Chinese Skating Association’s website and found by the Associated Press, the skaters violated the sport’s age limits by competing when they were either too young or too old. The birthdates on t

The top-tier South Korean ladies’ golf tour will kick off in April with the most-ever amount of purse up for grabs.The Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association announced Tuesday that its 24 tournaments this year will offer 13.6 billion won ($12.1 million) in total purse, up 1.6 billion won from a year ago. There are also two more events in 2011 than last year.The KLPGA also said eight of its 24

SAO PAULO (AP) ― A tearful Ronaldo said goodbye to soccer, having finally met an opponent he couldn’t overcome.His body no longer able to meet the demands of the game, the 34-year-old striker retired Monday. He ends a magnificent career in which he won two World Cups with Brazil and thrived with some of Europe’s top teams. He played 18 years despite repeated knee trouble and leaves as a three-time

Kang Kwang-bae focused on bringing 2018 Winter Olympics to PyeongChangPYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province ― There’s no better word than “challenge” to describe his career. Kang Kwang-bae, 37, is a pioneer in winter sports in Korea. He was the first Korean athlete to take on sled events at the Winter Olympics. He made his Olympic debut by competing in the luge at the 1998 Winter Games. Then, after switch

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

GENEVA (AP) ― FIFA has come under further criticism, with European leagues upset by the way the governing body runs soccer.The European Professional Football Leagues said Friday that FIFA makes unilateral decisions and appears to interfere in the business of its members. The 30-league group wchoed the European Club Association’s warning Tuesday that it is losing patience with FIFA President Sepp B

Exhibitions“Manga Realities: Exploring the Art of Japanese Comics Today”: Artsonje Center, a private art museum which usually presents contemporary conceptual art, has opened its space for a show on Japanese comics. The exhibition attempts a 3-D realization of the comics by adding whimsical props and installations that look like they just popped out of the comic books. It makes the case for why an

Under the subconsciousnessThe Other Side of Dark RemembranceBy Lee Kyun-young(Jimoondang, 5,000 won)Unlike many other novels written on the Korean War (1950-1953), author Lee Kyun-young’s “The Other Side of Dark Remembrance” does not hold ideological conflicts of the two Koreas at its front.Instead, it follows the mundane life of an office worker with a low salary living in Seoul. The man had lost

Memoir of U.S.–Korea FTAKim Hyun-jong talks of U.S.―Korea FTABy Kim Hyun-jong(Hongsungsa, 19,000 won) Kim Hyun-jong is the former minister for trade in the late President Roh Moo-hyun administration. Being one of the central figures in the administration’s trade policy from 2003 to 2007, Kim initiated numerous free trade agreement (FTA) plans with Mexico, India, Canada, Singapore, MERCOSUR, EFTA,

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

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

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province ― Benjamin Karl of Austria won the LG FIS snowboarding World Cup title in the parallel slalom event Wednesday.The Vancouver Olympic silver medalist claimed his fourth title of the season after beating Siegfried Grabner of Austria in the final in men’s event at the Yonpyong Resort, in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province. The parallel giant slalom, which was first introduced

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

More than 70 percent of South Koreans would root for North Korea if the communist nation played a football match with the United States, while the two Koreas’ reunification is becoming less of a priority for the public here, a study showed Tuesday.According to the study by Professor Eun Ki-soo of Seoul National University, one survey showed that 70.1 percent of respondents last year would cheer fo

Japan’s current account surplus widened in December as the global recovery boosted demand, underpinning the wealth that supports the nation’s debt burden.The gap expanded 30.5 percent from a year earlier to 1.195 trillion yen ($14.5 billion), the Finance Ministry said in Tokyo Monday. The median estimate of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a surplus of 1.13 trillion yen.Increased d

South Korean athletes returned home Monday from the Asian Winter Games in Kazakhstan, where they put together the country’s most successful Winter Asiad performance.South Korea won its all-time high of 13 gold medals in Almaty and Astana, the two Kazakh cities that hosted events during the competition. South Korea added 12 silver and 13 bronze medals for a total of 38 medals, three more than its p