Category: Sports

SEOUL, SSG Landers slugger Choi Jeong tied the all-time South Korean baseball home run record Tuesday, reaching the cusp of history thanks to a dramatic shot with his team down to their final out.

Choi blasted a solo home run off Kia Tigers closer Jung Hai-young in the bottom of the ninth inning of the teams’ Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) regular-season game at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon, just west of Seoul.

With his 467th home run, Choi pulled into a tie with former Samsung Lions star Lee Seung-yuop atop the career home run list. Choi also leads the league this season with nine home runs.

Choi’s homer was also significant for the Landers, as it tied the score at 4-4 with two outs in the bottom ninth.

Choi took three straight balls and then looked at a fastball for a called strike. With the count still in his favor at 3-1, Choi turned on a belt-high fastball, clocked at 147 kilometers per hour, and drove it 125 meters into the seats in left field.

Two batters later, Han Yoo-seom smoked a t
wo-run homer as the Landers walked off the Tigers 6-4.

Lee, currently manager of the Doosan Bears, finished with 467 home runs after playing 1,906 games. This was Choi’s 2,183rd game.

Choi and Lee are the only two players with at least 400 home runs in the KBO.

Choi, 37, has spent his entire career with the Landers franchise. He made his debut in 2005 when the team was called the SK Wyverns under different corporate ownership. After hitting just one home run in 45 games as an 18-year-old rookie, Choi had 12 homers in 92 games in 2006.

And Choi reached double figures in home runs every year from 2006 to 2023, the longest such streak in league history. He now sits one away from extending his record streak to 19 seasons this year.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

The South Korean baseball league announced Monday it has pulled three umpires from assignments after they were caught on a hot mic trying to cover up a missed call during a game Sunday.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) said umpires Lee Min-ho, Moon Seong-hoon and Chu Pyung-ho will be excluded from regular-season work for the time being while the league mulls further disciplinary action.

The incident in question took place Sunday during the bottom of the third inning of a game between the NC Dinos and the Samsung Lions at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, some 240 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

Dinos starter Lee Jae-hak threw a pitch over the outer part of the plate. Moon, home plate umpire, ruled it a ball, even though the newly implemented automated ball-strike system (ABS) had called it a strike.

The ABS uses a tracking system to make calls and delivers the info to the home plate umpire through an ear piece.

The KBO later confirmed that the pitch had been identified as a strike on the ABS. Dinos
manager Kang In-kwon also saw the pitch as a strike on the tablet provided to each club this season to track ABS calls.

Kang came out of the dugout to argue with Moon, but only after Lee Jae-hak had thrown three more pitches because the pitch appeared on the tablet screen after several seconds of delay. Kang’s appeal was rejected based on the rules that the appeal should have been made immediately after the pitch in question.

Lee Min-ho, the crew chief for the game, announced the decision through the stadium PA system, but it was his conversation with Moon and Chu, the third base umpire, that caused controversy after it was caught on a mic during the game’s broadcast.

Instead of asking Moon to admit his mistake, Lee urged the home plate umpire to try to cover up the missed call.

“We should tell people you heard the ‘ball’ call. Understand? That’s the only way we can get out of this,” Lee was heard telling Moon.

Moon said, “Yes,” and Lee went on.

“So just make sure to say what you heard was ‘ball.’ If yo
u don’t want us to get hammered for this, you have to listen to me,” Lee insisted.

The clip quickly went viral on social media and was the lead story on major evening news programs.

“We consider this to be an extremely serious matter,” the KBO said in a statement Monday. “We will take stern disciplinary steps as necessary.”

In light of this incident, the KBO said its commissioner, Heo Koo-youn, held an emergency meeting to review the operational manual on the ABS.

The KBO said it will allow an ABS official working on the scene to intervene should any confusion arise during transmission of a call to the home plate umpire’s ear piece.

The KBO added it will equip all 10 clubs with a new device that relays all ABS calls to the dugout in real time.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

An Byeong-hun has finished tied for 16th at the Masters to lead all South Korean players at the first major championship of the PGA Tour season.

An shot a three-over 75 in the final round at the par-72 Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, on Sunday (local time), and finished at two-over 290 overall.

An started the day in a tie for ninth place but dropped outside the top 10 after recording five birdies, six bogeys and one double bogey.

It was An’s worst round of the week, following rounds of 70, 73 and 72, but still good enough to give An his best showing at the Masters in his fifth appearance.

The 32-year-old had missed the cut in 2010, 2016 and 2020, and finished tied for 33rd in 2017.

An bogeyed the opening hole but bounced right back with a birdie at the second hole. He traded a bogey at the fifth with a birdie at the seventh but made the turn at one-over for the day after a bogey at the ninth hole.

Another roller-coaster ride followed on the second nine. An had a bogey at the 11th and a
double bogey at the 12th but then battled back with birdies at the 13th and 14th.

Then An closed out his tournament with back-to-back bogeys at the 16th and 17th, and a birdie at the 18th.

This was An’s 10th tournament of the season, and he has been inside the top 25 in six of them.

An said afterward he felt he could have played much better on the weekend.

“Yesterday, I could have had six more birdies, a lot more pars. Same today. It was very disappointing to finish this way,” said An, who said he was pleased with his ball striking but not so much with his putting. “I’ve got to figure something out. It’s golf. I feel like all the game’s there, short game’s there, ball striking’s there. It’s kind of disappointing to have this kind of play on the greens. It’s tough greens to putt on. It’s not the easiest greens. It’s not the easiest read.”

Two other South Korean players, Tom Kim and Kim Si-woo, tied for 30th at five-over 293.

Tom Kim, whose Korean name is Joo-hyung, had an especially strong finish with a
six-under 66, the best final round score in the field. He had eight birdies, including four in a row starting at the ninth, and two bogeys. He had shot 78-77 over the two previous rounds after opening with a 72.

Kim Si-woo closed with a 70 with three birdies — all of them coming on the first nine — and a bogey.

One other South Korean player, Im Sung-jae, missed the cut by one shot after shooting 77-74 in the first two rounds.

An said it was encouraging to see four South Korean players in the field at Augusta, with three of them making the cut, and he expects to see more in the future.

“I feel like there’s many great players that can play into this event,” he said. “You definitely will see more in the future. There’s still a lot of guys playing on the PGA Tour who could have made it here. Four is a decent number, but hopefully, we can get the win one day.”

Tom Kim, one of the rising young stars with three PGA Tour titles at age 21, agreed with that sentiment.

“I think all four could have made the cut e
asily. We’ve got a lot of good players, and I think it’s definitely getting a lot more competitive,” he said. “I think us playing well is definitely inspiring the next generation to come to the PGA Tour and to play events like this because no matter what tour comes along, you can’t beat traditions like the Masters and the four major championships.”

Kim Si-woo, who made his PGA Tour debut in 2013 as an 18-year-old, said South Korean players have been pushing hard to great effect.

“We battle each other, and it helps us get to the top,” he said. “Back in the day, I didn’t have much of that. But now, we’ve got six, seven players battling every week. So I think that helps and then hopefully gets more Korean players on the tour.”

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler won his second career green jacket by shooting an 11-under 277, four better than Ludvig Aberg of Sweden.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

The San Francisco Giants’ South Korean rookie Lee Jung-hoo has pushed his career-high hitting streak to six games.

Lee went 1-for-5 with a steal and a run scored in the Giants’ 9-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Sunday (local time).

Lee did all of his offensive work in the first inning.

He led off the game by hitting a single off the very first pitch from starter Shawn Armstrong. Lee then swiped second base for his second steal of the season and scored the game’s first run on a single by LaMonte Wade Jr.

Lee, however, came up empty in his next four trips to the plate.

Against left-handed reliever Tyler Alexander, Lee lined out to center fielder Jose Siri in the third and flied out to left fielder Randy Arozarena in the sixth. Then in the seventh, Lee hit a flyout to Siri.

Lee faced new reliever Kevin Kelly with two outs in the ninth and popped out to shortstop Niko Goodrum.

Lee’s batting average dropped from .246 to .242. He is tied for second on the Giant
s with 15 hits and tied for fourth with seven runs scored. Only the backup utility player Tyler Fitzgerald has more steals than Lee on the Giants with three.

Also on Sunday, Kim Ha-seong of the San Diego Padres drew a career-high four walks in a 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

He got his first walk off starter James Paxton in the second inning. Kim promptly tried to steal second base and was initially ruled safe, before the Dodgers successfully challenged the call and had it overturned. Second baseman Gavin Lux successfully put the tag on the back of Kim’s leg just before the runner touched the bag.

Kim worked another walk in the fourth inning against Paxton. Then facing new pitcher Ryan Brasier in the sixth, Kim walked to load the bases, only to be erased in a double play ball by Luis Campusano.

In the seventh inning, reliever Alex Vesia intentionally walked Kim.

Kim flied out to right field in the ninth against Nick Ramirez.

Despite getting on base four times, Ki
m did not score a run. He is batting .215, but his on-base percentage went from .282 to .316.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

After a two-homer day this weekend, SSG Landers slugger Choi Jeong enters the new week on the verge of breaking the all-time home run record in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).

Choi blasted two long balls against the KT Wiz in an 8-1 victory on Sunday at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, just south of Seoul. With a league-leading eight homers this year, Choi now has 466 home runs for his career, two away from breaking the career record held by former Samsung Lions star Lee Seung-yuop, currently manager of the Doosan Bears.

Choi will have a chance to become the new home run king at home this week, as the Landers will have a six-game homestand at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon, about 30 kilometers west of Seoul.

From Tuesday to Thursday, the Landers will host the KBO-leading Kia Tigers. Then from Friday to Sunday, the LG Twins will visit the Landers.

Choi, 37, is playing in his 20th KBO season. He said before the start of this campaign that he wanted to get the record out of the way as early as possible, k
nowing his chase of Lee’s mark would be a distraction.

A model of consistency, Choi reached double figures in home runs every year from 2006 to 2023, and will almost certainly keep that streak alive this season. He also launched at least 20 homers in each of the past eight years, a run that will also likely be extended in 2024. And with eight homers in just 18 games this year, Choi has not shown any signs of slowing down in his late 30s.

Choi told reporters Sunday he is trying his best not to get caught up in home run numbers.

“It’s hard not to be conscious of the record. But when I am in the box, I try to just get a base hit, rather than hit a home run,” Choi said. “Before the season, I said I wanted to break the record as quickly as possible. And I’ve reached this point earlier than I’d expected. I am feeling a bit nervous, but I will try to stay calm and maintain this pace.”

Choi and Lee are the only two players in KBO history with more than 400 home runs. Trailing Choi on the list is Wiz slugger Park
Byung-ho with 380.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

With some key players missing, South Korea will look to secure a spot in their 10th consecutive Olympic men’s football tournament at the qualifiers kicking off this week in Qatar.

South Korea will play in Group B at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup. The competition doubles as the AFC qualifiers for the Paris Olympics. The top three nations from this 16-team event will secure spots in the Olympics, while the fourth-place team will face Guinea in an intercontinental playoff later this year.

Coached by Hwang Sun-hong, South Korea’s U-23 squad will open the tournament against the United Arab Emirates at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha. That will be 12:30 a.m. Wednesday in South Korean time.

South Korea will then take on China at 4 p.m. Friday, back at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, or 10 p.m. Friday in Seoul.

The young Taegeuk Warriors will close out the group phase against Japan at 4 p.m. next Monday at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Al Rayyan, just west of Doha. I
t will be 10 p.m. the same night in Seoul.

There are four groups of four, and the top two teams from each group will reach the quarterfinals, which will be played on April 25 and 26.

The semifinals are April 29, followed by the third-place match on May 2 and the final on May 3.

South Korea played at the 1988 Seoul Olympics as the host country and have qualified for every Olympic tournament since 1992, when the current, under-23 age limit was put in place.

This year’s qualification campaign, though, could be an especially challenging one for South Korea, and getting out of the group stage isn’t considered a sure thing.

South Korea have had difficulty against Japan in all age groups in recent years. China, though not as strong as South Korea on paper, could still present problems with their physical play.

Compounding these issues will be the absence of some of South Korea’s most important players on both ends.

At the end of March, Hwang selected five players based in foreign leagues for his squad. But th
ree of them, Yang Hyun-jun of Celtic FC, Kim Ji-soo of Brentford FC and Bae Jun-ho of Stoke City, have been withheld by their respective clubs. Only Kim Min-woo of Dusseldorf and Jeong Sang-bin of Minnesota United will be available from the overseas-based group.

Since the AFC tournament isn’t on the FIFA international match calendar, clubs aren’t required to send their Asian players for the occasion. Hwang himself had earlier acknowledged that he wasn’t sure if he would have the services of all five players and that he had a Plan B in place just in case.

Yang and Bae would have been important playmakers on offense, while Kim Ji-soo, despite being only 19 years old, would have been a starting center back.

Kim Min-woo has been training with the national team for more than a week, but Jeong is only scheduled to join the squad later Monday, the eve of South Korea’s first match.

Among domestic-based players, FC Seoul midfielder Paik Sang-hoon was treated for a knee injury earlier this month and belatedly joine
d the national team last Monday, two days after they held their first training session in their Dubai camp.

Even with these issues threatening to foil South Korea’s Olympic bid, Hwang said he will try not to let them affect the team’s play on the field.

“We’ve had some difficulties, but these things happen when you prepare for a tournament,” Hwang said last Thursday following the team’s first training session in Doha. “We will try to overcome adversity the best we can and grab our ticket to the Olympics.”

Source: Yonhap News Agency