Sports Briefs

[BASEBALL]

Park Byung-ho may need surgery for his wrist pain

Park Byung-ho of the Minnesota Twins may need surgery on his wrist, it turns out.

On Monday local time, St. Paul Pioneer Press, a newspaper based in St. Paul, Minnesota, reported Park “has a hand issue that could require surgery.”

The Korean slugger started out the season strong with the Twins hitting 12 home runs in his first 62 games in the majors. But things started to go south mid-season when he was unable to make solid contacts. His struggle on the plate continued and Park was eventually demoted to the Triple-A in early July to play for Rochester Red Wings, a minor league affiliate of the Twins.

Park showed potential of returning to the big leagues in the minors, even hitting consecutive home runs in three at-bats in late July.

However, he was placed on the team’s disabled list (DL) due to his wrist pain.

Reportedly, Park has been suffering from wrist pain since the spring camp, and played games early in the season with pain. Some say that this led Park to struggle later in the first half of the season as the pain worsened. The team says he suffers from tendinitis.

If Park’s injury is bad enough that it will require surgery, it is questionable whether he will be able to make it back to the Twins’ big league roster this season. Park has batted .224 with 10 home runs and 19 runs with the Wings before he was listed in the DL.

[PARALYMPICS]

Paralympics team aims to take 10 medals in Rio

Korea’s delegation for this year’s Paralympics departed on Tuesday to participate in the quadrennial event held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where the Summer Olympics came to its end.

At this year’s Paralympics in Rio, 81 Korean athletes will participate in seven sports such as archery, boccia, cycling and shooting.

They will travel to Atlanta where their training camp is located, before heading to Brazil to participate in the Games.

In the 2012 London Paralympics, Korea raked in nine golds, nine silvers and nine bronzes to finish 12th in overall medal tallies. This year’s team will aim to take 10 golds and match the standings from London in its medal count.

“We will achieve our goals,” said Lee Ha-gel, the men’s captain of the delegation, according to Yonhap News Agency.

This year’s Paralympics will go from September 7 to 18.

By Choi Hyung-jo