Sports Briefs

GOLF

Park Sung-hyun stays at No. 1 for a fourth week

Park Sung-hyun held the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings for a fourth consecutive week.

In the updated world ranking, announced on Monday, Park received 8.20 points to extend her lead over Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand, who now has 7.90 points.

Park reached the No. 1 spot after winning her third tournament of the season - the Indy Women in Tech Championship in August. Prior to Park’s victory, she won her first tournament of the season in May, the Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic, and added another in July by winning her second career major on the LPGA Tour, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

Ryu So-yeon was the second-highest Korean golfer, in third with 7.07 points, and Park In-bee was ranked fourth with 6.97 points.

BASKETBALL

First jump ball of WKBL season will be on Nov. 3

The Women’s Korean Basketball League (WKBL) announced the schedule for its 2018-19 season on Tuesday.

Starting with a game between Asan Woori Bank Wibee and Incheon Shinhan Bank S-Birds at the Yi Sun-shin Stadium in Asan, South Chungcheong, on Nov. 3, the regular season will end on Mar. 10, 2019. Six WKBL teams will each play a total of 105 games.

The second and third ranked team from the regular season will play their playoff games between Mar. 14 and 18. The championship match will be played starting from Mar. 21 as a best-of-five series.

By Kang Yoo-rim

FOOTBALL

Medel sends condolences to Hokkaido disaster victims

Chilean national football team captain Gary Medel on Monday expressed condolences to the victims of the Hokkaido earthquake, saying his side’s friendly match with Japan isn’t that important.

Medel and his Chile teammates are in Korea for a friendly match on Tuesday. Chile was supposed to play a friendly against Japan on Friday before coming to Korea, but the match was canceled due to the earthquake.

Medel, who is with Turkish side Besiktas, said it’s pity that his players couldn’t compete in the friendly after their long journey, but he feels sensitivity regarding the deadly earthquake is more important.

“If you’re a player, of course you want to play a match, but this time, I really feel sad and feel sympathy for those who lost their lives because of that natural disaster,” Medel said during a press conference at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, south of Seoul, where Chile and Korea played a friendly. “Chile experienced similar situations before, so I know what it meant to people there. I send my condolences to people in Japan.”

Yonhap