Sports Briefs

SNOWBOARD

Lee Sang-ho places 15th in parallel slalom at World Cup

Lee Sang-ho finished 15th at the International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cup Snowboard Men’s Parallel Slalom at Cortina d’Ampezzo on Saturday.

Lee finished 13th in the qualification round with a combined time of 1:01.57. He failed to advance to the quarterfinals, losing to Christoph Mick of Italy by 1.5 seconds. In parallel slalom, the top 16 snowboarders from the qualification round, based on the combined time of two races, advance and the snowboarders race down the slope against the opponent in the other course.

Roland Fischnaller won the event, receiving 1,000 points towards the FIS World Cup parallel slalom standing for the season. By receiving 160 points from the 15th place finish, Lee is ranked 15th in the FIS World Cup parallel slalom standing and 10th in the parallel giant slalom with 530 points.

Lee had his first win of the season at the Europa Cup at Hochfugen, Germany, in September. But at the World Cup events, he struggled to advance any further than the round of 16, ninth place being his best result of the season.

Throughout Lee’s career, his best FIS World Cup result is a runner-up finish in March. The next FIS World Cup event will be held in Lackenhof, Austria on Jan. 5.

By Kang Yoo-rim

FOOTBALL

Korea ends year in 14th, tied with Norway

Korea ended this year as the world’s 14th-ranked team in women’s football, according to FIFA on Friday.

The latest women’s rankings released by the world football governing body showed Korea shared the No. 14 position with Norway. The two countries both earned 1,868 points, seven points above No. 16 China.

FIFA releases its women’s rankings every three months. Korea started this year at No. 17. Korea is the fourth-highest ranked team among Asian Football Confederation members following Australia (No. 4), Japan (No. 9), and North Korea (No. 11).

Yonhap