Sports Briefs

FOOTBALL

Police will not investigate national team egg incident

Korean police on Tuesday decided not to investigate an egg-throwing incident that occurred upon arrival of the men’s national football team from the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The Korean national football team was pelted with eggs at Incheon International Airport in the city west of Seoul on Friday when they returned home from the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where they suffered a group stage exit.

The Incheon International Airport Police said the Korea Football Association (KFA) didn’t want to punish the egg throwers, so it decided not to further probe the incident.

“We first checked the KFA’s intention on whether it wants to punish the offenders before we launch our investigation,” an official with the Incheon International Airport Police said. “Throwing eggs is considered an assault, but it’s also an offense which can’t be prosecuted without the victim’s objection.”

During a disband ceremony for Korea’s 2018 World Cup delegation, some angry fans threw eggs that almost hit the national team forward Son Heung-min. Union Jack cushions were also thrown at the national footballers.

Even though the eggs didn’t hit the players, legal authorities said throwing eggs can be considered an assault if the purpose was to harm someone.

Korea finished third in Group F with one win and two losses, and failed to reach the round of 16. They lost 1-0 to Sweden and fell 2-1 to Mexico but had a stunning 2-0 win over defending champions Germany.

BASEBALL

Oh Seung-hwan suffers third loss of the season

Toronto Blue Jays’ South Korean reliever Oh Seung-hwan has suffered his third loss of the season.

Oh gave up a go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning against the Detroit Tigers at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Monday (local time), as the Jays fell 3-2.

The right-hander took over from Tyler Clippard to start the 10th inning, with the score knotted at 2-2. After getting James McCann to ground out to shortstop, Oh served up a triple to Niko Goodrum.

Jose Iglesias then drove him home with a sacrifice fly to right field. Oh struck out JaCoby Jones to end the inning, but the damage had been done.

The Jays couldn’t muster up any offense in the bottom half of the inning, as Oh fell to 4-3 for the season.

His ERA went up from 3.05 to 3.20. Oh hadn’t given up an earned run in his previous four appearances. This was his first outing in July. Oh opened June by allowing six earned runs in his first 1 2/3 innings but then limited opponents to one earned run over his next 11 1/3 frames.

For the season, Oh has two saves to go along with 47 strikeouts and 10 walks in 39 1/3 innings.

Yonhap