[Graphic News] Hangzhou to host largest-ever Asian Games: organizers

China’s COVID-delayed Asian Games are set to be the largest ever, organizers said, as host city Hangzhou ramps up preparations ahead of the opening ceremony in September. The Games in Hangzhou were due to take place in September 2022 but were postponed by a year because of China’s strict “zero-COVID” rules. Over 12,500 athletes from 45 countries and regions have signed up, with organizing official Ding Jiong telling reporters that Hangzhou would host “the Asian Game

Sept. 1, 2023

Pro-basketball team KCC Egis to move home from Jeonju to Busan

The professional basketball team KCC Egis will relocate its home base from the southwestern city of Jeonju to Busan on the southeast coast. The Korea Basketball League on Wednesday approved a proposal to move the team's home city during a board meeting held at the KBL center in southern Seoul. The KCC Egis was founded in 2001 in Jeonju after acquiring the Hyundai Gullivers, a team based in the central city of Daejeon, and moving the home city. With the approval, the team will bid farewell t

Aug. 30, 2023

S. Korea wins men's doubles title, enjoys record haul at badminton world championships

The South Korean badminton duo of Seo Seung-jae and Kang Min-hyuk have struck gold in the men's doubles at the world championships in Denmark, giving their country a record title haul. Seo and Kang, world No. 6, rallied to defeat 11th-ranked Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark 14-21, 21-15, 21-17 for the men's doubles crown at the Badminton World Federation World Championships in Copenhagen on Sunday (local time). Seo and Kang are the first South Korean men's double

Aug. 28, 2023

'Korean Zombie' wraps up MMA career at UFC Fight Night

"The Korean Zombie," Jung Chan-sung, a 36-year-old South Korean mixed martial arts veteran, lost his battle against former Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight champion Max Holloway at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore on Saturday, seeing the two-time UFC title challenger leaving the octagon for good. Despite being on the losing foot throughout the fight, the Korean Zombie gave his best during the adrenaline-fueled bout. Known for his never-back-down fighting style, J

Aug. 27, 2023

Diminutive fencer aims high at Asian Games

In the past, fencers used to look down on their South Korean foe Song Se-ra, not only figuratively but literally as well. Song is listed at 164 centimeters, tiny by fencing standards. Song, world No. 5 in women's epee, gives 21 cm to the top-ranked Marie-Florence Candassamy of France. Song is the shortest one among the top-10 female epee fencers in the world today. However, at the 2022 World Fencing Championships in Cairo, no one stood taller than Song. She won gold medals in both the indiv

Aug. 25, 2023

Teen table tennis player determined to push herself to limits in Asiad debut

For South Korean table tennis player Shin Yu-bin, suffering a wrist injury toward the end of 2021 might have seemed like a career-derailing event at the time. Nearly two years later, Shin is gearing up for her first Asian Games, having been able to use the time on the sidelines wisely to work on different elements of her game. The 19-year-old now believes it will serve her well at the Asiad in Hangzou, China, starting next month. Shin, one of South Korea's rising stars in ping pong, suffere

Aug. 25, 2023

Asiad-bound taekwondo practitioners fueled by failures

Jang Jun and Lee Da-bin, two South Korean taekwondo medal hopefuls at the upcoming Asian Games in China, both want to use their recent slip-ups as fuel. Lee, 26, will be going for her third consecutive Asian Games gold medal in Hangzhou next month. Her first gold came in the lightweight (62 kilograms) event in 2014, but she moved up to heavyweight (+67kg) under the revised weight divisions in 2018 and won gold there too. She will be the defending champion in the heavyweight class in September. &

Aug. 25, 2023

By missing podium at worlds, high jumper Woo Sang-hyeok hits speed bump in trailblazing career

That a top-six finish at the World Athletics Championships can be seen as a disappointment for Woo Sang-hyeok indicates just how far the South Korean high jumper has come. It wasn't that long ago when the goal for any Korean high jumper competing at a worlds was to make it out of the preliminary phase and qualify for the final. Woo then raised the figurative bar high by winning silver at last year's World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. South Korea, a country long without an

Aug. 23, 2023

Faker to advance to 2023 LoL World Championship

After a hard-fought 3-2 victory over KT Rolster in the semifinal of the League of Legends Champions Korea Summer on Saturday, esports giant T1 have secure their spot not only in the finals, but also at this year’s LoL World Championship. As Gen.G and T1 made one-two finishes in both spring and summer seasons, the two teams will be automatically qualified for LoL World Championship with the most championship points regardless of their performances in the upcoming 2023 LCK Summer finals. The

Aug. 20, 2023

High jumper Woo Sang-hyeok goes for 1st world outdoor title in Hungary

South Korean high jumper Woo Sang-hyeok will begin his quest for a historic gold medal at the world championships in Hungary this weekend. The qualification for the men's high jump at the World Athletics Championships is set for 10:35 a.m. Sunday in Budapest, or 5:35 p.m. Sunday. The final is scheduled for 7:58 p.m. Tuesday in the Hungarian capital, or 2:58 a.m. Wednesday. Woo is the reigning world silver medalist, having finished behind Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar in Eugene, Oregon, last y

Aug. 18, 2023

High jumper Woo Sang-hyeok finishes 2nd in final tuneup for world championships

South Korean high jumper Woo Sang-hyeok has finished in second place in his final tuneup before the world championships later this month. Woo, the reigning world silver medalist, jumped 2.28 meters for the runner-up showing at the International High Jump Meeting in Heilbronn, Germany, on Sunday. Hamish Kerr of New Zealand also cleared 2.28m but did so in one fewer attempt than Woo to grab the gold medal. The jumpers braved rainy conditions in Heilbronn, where the reigning Olympic champion from I

Aug. 7, 2023

Nat'l swimming team returns home from worlds with 1 medal, 8 nat'l records in tow

The South Korean national swimming team returned home from the world championships in Japan on Monday, having bagged one medal and set eight national records in the pool. Hwang Sun-woo, who won bronze in the men's 200-meter freestyle, was South Korea's lone medalist at the World Aquatics Championships, held in Fukuoka, Japan, from July 14 to Sunday. He also helped two relay teams break national records. With a national record time of 1 minute 44.42 seconds in the 200 freestyle final, H

July 31, 2023

Teen swimmer reaches 1st semis at swimming worlds

South Korea's Lee Eun-ji made it to her first semifinals of the ongoing swimming world championships in Japan on Friday. Lee finished 14th in the heats for the women's 200-meter backstroke at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, with a time of 2:11.78. The top 16 swimmers from the heats advanced to the semifinals scheduled for Friday evening at Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall A. This was Lee's third individual race in Fukuoka and her first trip to the semifinals. The 17-year-old

July 28, 2023

S. Korean men chasing 1st relay medal at swimming worlds

With his individual races now in the books at the ongoing world championships, South Korean swimming star Hwang Sun-woo will try to lead his relay team to unprecedented heights. Hwang will team up with three others in the men's 4x200-meter freestyle relay at the World Aquatics Championships on Friday in the Japanese host city of Fukuoka. The heats are scheduled for 11:55 a.m. at Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall A, and the top eight teams will advance to the final set for 9:40 p.m. South Korea has

July 27, 2023

Swimmer Hwang Sun-woo looks on brighter side after narrow miss for gold at worlds

You can look at a bronze medal in an athletic competition in different ways: you're either the third best in your sport, or you fell two spots short of first place. For South Korean swimmer Hwang Sun-woo, the bronze medal in the men's 200-meter freestyle at the world championships in Japan on Tuesday added a new color to a collection of medals that he hopes to keep growing. That Hwang broke his own national record at the same time helped ease the sting of not taking the ultimate prize in Fukuoka

July 25, 2023

2nd worlds medal cements Hwang Sun-woo's status as next big thing in S. Korean swimming

FUKUOKA, Japan -- If there had been any doubt at all as to Hwang Sun-woo's status as the next big thing in South Korean swimming, it was all erased Tuesday in Japan with his second straight world championships medal. Hwang grabbed the bronze medal in the men's 200-meter freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, with a time of 1:44.42, the new South Korean record. He finished behind two British swimmers, Matthew Richards (1:44.30) and Tom Dean (1:44.42). At 20, Hwang has now gone

July 25, 2023

Hwang Sun-woo wins bronze in 200m freestyle at swimming worlds

FUKUOKA, Japan -- South Korean Hwang Sun-woo captured the bronze medal in the men's 200-meter freestyle at the world championships in Japan on Tuesday, breaking his own national record in the process. Hwang touched the pad in the new national record time of 1:44.42 for his second straight medal at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka. Hwang, 20, won silver behind Popovici at last year's world championships in Budapest. Hwang is the first South Korean to win a medal at back-to-back world s

July 25, 2023

Three advance, others eliminated for S. Korea at swimming worlds

FUKUOKA -- Three South Koreans moved on to the next phase while others were sent packing in Day 1 of swimming at the world championships on Sunday. Kim Woo-min made his second consecutive final in the men's 400-meter freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, with a new personal best time of 3:44.52. He finished sixth in the heats, with the top eight reaching the final set for Sunday evening at Marine Messe Fukuoka Hall A. Kim Seo-yeong qualified for the semifinals in

July 23, 2023

Friendship does wonders for artistic swimming tandem

South Korean artistic swimmers Byun Jae-jun and Kim Ji-hye have only been training and competing as a duo since April. But their friendship goes back much further -- to their elementary school days, in fact. Byun and Kim, now 20 and 19, were in the same class in first grade. Though they weren't doing artistic swimming then, they developed quick friendship that has lasted over a decade. And after wrapping up their first world championships together here on Saturday, they credited their perso

July 22, 2023

S. Korean swimmers head to Japan for world championships

Led by reigning silver medalist Hwang Sun-woo, the South Korean national swimming team headed to Japan on Thursday for the world championships. The World Aquatics Championships began last Friday in the port city of Fukuoka with artistic swimming and diving. Swimming races will begin Sunday and run through July 30. Lee Jeong-hoon, head coach of the swimming team, said he is pleased with the work his athletes have put in for the big event. "I think our preparation has gone the way we've

July 20, 2023