ICHEON, Gyeonggi Province ― Some of the world’s top golfer are set to battle again in Korea for the Ballatine’s championship. The $2.9 million European Tour event will tee off on Thursday at Blackstone Golf Club in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province with a total of 156 golfers vying for the trophy. Since its establishment in 2007, the Ballantine’s Championship has been hosted on Jeju Island. But this ye...

Celtic, Rangers battle to scoreless draw LONDON (AP) ― Arsenal’s slim hopes of winning the Premier League were virtually extinguished Sunday on a last-minute goal by Bolton substitute Tamir Cohen in a 2-1 loss. The Israel midfielder, who came on in the 85th minute, glanced in a near-post header from a corner kick to leave third-place Arsenal nine points adrift of league leader Manchester United...

South Korean figure skating sensation Kim Yu-na will make her much-anticipated return to the ice at the world championships in Moscow this week. The Olympic champion has not skated competitively since losing her world title in Turin last year to Japan’s Mao Asada, the 2008 and 2010 titleholder and Olympic silver medalist. Kim arrived in Moscow on Friday ahead of the season’s final competition w...

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 ...