SPORTS BRIEFS
Published: 06 Feb. 2017, 20:18
FC Augsburg’s Koo Ja-cheol leads team to victory
Koo Ja-cheol, midfielder for Bundesliga club FC Augsburg, helped the team win 3-2 against SV Werder Bremen during the 19th round of 2016-2017 Bundesliga as he scored one goal while tallying one assist on Monday at the Augsburg Arena, also known as the WWK Arena.
Koo’s goal at the 79th minute allowed Augsburg to square the match. Before Koo’s goal, they were losing to Werder Bremen 1-2.
This marks Koo’s second goal of the season, third including the DFB-Pokal. Koo scored his first goal of the season in October, 2016 during the game against FC Bayern Munich.
During the overtime in the second half, Koo assisted Raul Bobadilla’s winning goal with the lobbed pass. With 3-2 comeback win, Augsburg now moves up to 10th place in Bundesliga standing as they improve their record to six wins seven losses and six ties.
Ji Dong-won, Koo’s teammate also contributed in the team’s win as he played full-time, although he failed to tally any goal or assist. Koo scored the highest average of both teams, 8.71, according to whoscored.com, a European football statistics website.
FENCING
Men’s team wins Coupe du Monde par equips in Italy
Korea’s men’s fencing sabre national team won the 2017 Coupe du Monde par equips in Padoue, Italy, on Monday.
After having both Kim and Oh win bronze medals at the sabre singles last month, the team, Kim Jung-hwan, Gu Bon-gil, Oh Sang-uk and Lee Jong-hyun, came out to win the championship. Kim Jung-hwan and Gu were part of the team that won gold in team’s sabre during the 2012 Olympics in London. At the semi-final match, they took down the Iranians 45-34 to advance into the finals. Finally in the final, the team edged out Italy 45-44.
BASEBALL
WBC team settled on final list of players’ names
Korea finalized its 28-man team for the World Baseball Classic (WBC) on Monday.
Manager Kim In-sik submitted the roster to the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) Monday. The KBO will then hand in the list to the WBC organizers Tuesday morning. The deadline is Monday in Eastern Standard Time.
Kim has had to make several changes since putting together the 28-man squad in November. The team is carrying just one major league player, St. Louis Cardinals’ closer Oh Seung-hwan.
The Texas Rangers balked at releasing outfielder Choo Shin-soo for the tournament because of his recent injury history. Kim Hyun-soo, second-year outfielder for the Baltimore Orioles, pulled himself out of consideration, citing the need to focus on the club’s spring training.
Kang Jung-ho of the Pittsburgh Pirates was cut from the team following his DUI arrest in December.
Among other major-leaguers, Ryu Hyun-jin, left-hander for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and Park Byung-ho, designated hitter recently designated for assignment by the Minnesota Twins, were never considered because of their offseason surgeries.
From the KBO, two All-Star pitchers, Kim Kwang-hyun of the SK Wyverns and Lee Yong-chan of the Bears, both underwent elbow surgery and were dropped from the provisional roster. Second baseman Jeong Keun-woo withdrew last week after a knee surgery.
Korea will have to rely on former Seattle Mariners first baseman Lee Dae-ho and veteran KBO slugger Choi Hyoung-woo for offensive production. The team is stacked with seven right-handed relief pitchers, led by Oh, who recorded 19 saves in his rookie major league season in 2016.
Korea will host first round action at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul starting on March 6. It will face Israel, the Netherlands and Chinese Taipei in Pool A.
The team will set up a training camp in Okinawa, Japan, on Sunday.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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