Sports Briefs

TENNIS

Lee Duck-hee takes first at the TEZ Tennis Open

Lee Duck-hee, ranked 217th in the world, won the TEZ Capital & Finance Tennis Open 2017 by defeating Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India, ranked 256th, on Sunday.

This is the first time in over a year for Lee to win the ITF Men’s Circuit and the 11th ITF tournament victory of his career. With the victory, Lee’s world ranking is expected to move inside the top 200, as he earned 27 ranking points in addition to the winning purse of $25,000. Throughout Lee’s career, the highest world ranking ever reached was 130 in April.

ITF Men’s Circuit is considered the third division of the men’s professional tennis tournaments, after the ATP World Tour and ATP Challenger Tour.

By Kang Yoo-rim

FIGURE SKATING

Choi Da-bin leads 2nd leg of national team Olympic trials

Korean teen figure skater Choi Da-bin moved a step closer to her Olympic debut on Sunday.

Choi led all Olympic hopefuls in the second leg of the national team trials for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games at Mokdong Ice Rink in Seoul, with an overall score of 168.37 points. The 17-year-old scored 102.85 points in free skate on Sunday, a day after earning 65.52 points in her short program.

Choi had won the first round of the Olympic trials in July. The national championships on the first weekend of January will double as the third and final qualification round, and the combined scores from the three rounds will determine who will get to represent the host nation at PyeongChang 2018. Choi leads everyone in the ladies’ singles with 350.16 points so far.

There are two spots up for grabs in the ladies’ singles, and Kim Ha-nul is in second place with 333.35 points. Kim finished her competition on Sunday with 164.20 points.

An So-hyun is in third place with 319.93 points, after earning 157.49 points on Sunday.

In the men’s singles, Lee June-hyoung won his second straight qualification round with 230.40 points overall. He earned 152.78 points in Sunday’s free skate, after scoring 77.62 points in the short program on Saturday.

BASEBALL

Doosan Bears decide to sign Jimmy Paredes for one year

Korean baseball club Doosan Bears said Friday they’ve signed former big leaguer Jimmy Paredes to a one-year contract.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) team said Paredes agreed to a $800,000 deal, which includes a signing bonus of $100,000. Paredes, a 29-year-old from the Dominican Republic, bounced between five major league clubs over six seasons. He made his big league debut with the Houston Astros in 2011, and split his 2016 season, his last in the majors, between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Paredes, a switch hitter who has played second base, third base, left field and right field, has a career .251 batting average in the majors with 20 home runs and 100 RBIs in 332 games. In his 10 minor league seasons, Paredes batted .289 with 54 home runs, 345 RBIs and 190 steals in 718 games.

Yonhap