Sports Briefs

BASEBALL

Twins’ Park Hyung-ho slams his

fourth home run of the season

Park Byung-ho of the Minnesota Twins hit his fourth home run of the season during the exhibition game against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Florida Auto Exchange Stadium on Monday.

Park got off to a slow start as he was struck out in the second inning with a runner on second and two outs.

But in the fifth inning, with a runner on first with no outs, Park hit a two-run home run against Francisco Liriano, a left-handed pitcher for the Blue Jays.

With the home run, the Twins broke the 0-0 tie and took the lead 2-0.

Following his home run, Park walked to first in the sixth inning. He concluded the game early and the Twins won 8-2.

With his performance, Park’s spring camp exhibition game batting average improved from 0.387 to 0.394, increasing his chance of returning to the major league.

SNOWBOARD

Cho Hyeon-min wins men’s half-pipe in Switzerland

Korean snowboarder Cho Hyeon-min has won the men’s half-pipe title at the International Ski Federation (FIS) Junior World Championships in Switzerland.

Cho, 15, scored 240 points in the half-pipe final event staged in Laax, Switzerland, on Monday (local time) and finished first among 18 competitors. He beat American snowboarder Toby Miller by 48 points. Chase Blackwell of the United States was third with a score of 144 points.

Cho is the second Korean to win a half-pipe gold medal at the junior worlds after Kweon Lee-jun first topped the podium in 2015.

Cho, who start snowboarding at age 2, is one of the top snowboard prospects selected by the Korea Ski Association (KSA).

Since 2015, he has been receiving abundant support from the KSA, including overseas training and lessons from foreign coaches.

The KSA sees Cho as one of the medal hopefuls for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

Yonhap

FOOTBALL

Referee expelled after bad call, another suspended

The Korean pro football league on Tuesday expelled one referee and suspended another after they made a critical missed call during the latest contest between FC Seoul and Gwangju FC.

The K-League said its referees committee concluded that a penalty given to Seoul for a handball was an incorrect call and it decided to mete out punishment on two referees for bad officiating.

On Sunday, Seoul earned a spot kick after the referees ruled that Lee Sang-ho’s cross hit the hands of Gwangju defender Park Dong-jin in the box in the 63rd minute. The video replay from the match broadcasters, however, showed that Lee’s cross actually hit his back. The defending champions went on to beat Gwangju 2-1.

The referee committee said the assistant referee told the main one to award the penalty to Seoul, but denied giving such a call when the officials began a post-match analysis.

The K-League said the assistant referee has been expelled from the league, while the main referee is suspended indefinitely.

Yonhap