Sports briefs

BASEBALL

Pirates’ Kang hits 8th home run this season

Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Kang Jung-ho notched his eighth home run of the season against the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday (Korean time).

At the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Kang made his only hit in four bats with a solo home run. The 28-year-old in the fourth inning hit a slider from the Reds’ starting pitcher Raisel Iglesias. The Pirates still lost to the Reds 4-3.

In the last 15 games, Kang has hit .426 with four home runs and six RBIs.

His overall batting average .299.

Meanwhile, Texas Rangers outfielder Choo Shin-soo went one-for-four against the San Francisco Giants. He is now hitting .238. The Rangers lost 9-7.

MILITARY GAMES

North Korea boycotts Military World Games

North Korea said it will not participate in the 2015 Military World Games hosted by South Korea. The games will be held in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang, from Oct. 2.

The South Korea Ministry of National Defense said on Sunday that North Korea sent a message to the International Military Sports Council (CISM) on July 31 that it will not participate in the quadrennial multi-sport event for soldiers. The ministry did not reveal the reasons for the boycott.

North Korea made an initial agreement with CISM last year that it would send 213 athletes in 11 events. It did not respond to a subsequent request for confirmation of its participation until the announcement of its boycott.

ATHLETICS

Widespread track and field doping alleged

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) says it is alarmed by “wild allegations” made by two European media outlets of widespread suspicious drug tests in track and field and is asking an independent body to investigate the claims.

WADA president Craig Reedie says Sunday he was surprised by the scale of the allegations, including that one-third of medals in endurance races at the Olympics and world championships over a 10-year period were won by athletes who recorded suspicious doping tests.

German broadcaster ARD and The Sunday Times newspaper said they obtained access to the results of 12,000 blood tests from 5,000 athletes. They say the leaked files came from the database of the International Association of Athletics Federations.

Reedie says “these are wild allegations, wide allegations, and we’ll have to check them out ... as quickly as possible.’’ AP