Sports Briefs

TRACK AND FIELD

World record holder Mike Powell meets local coaches

Long jump world record holder Mike Powell gave a lecture to Korean coaches over the weekend, the national track and field association said Sunday.

The Korea Association of Athletics Federations (KAAF) said Powell, 54, spoke before about 50 track and field instructors on Friday and Saturday at the Korea National Sport University in Seoul. The retired athlete took the podium as part of the KAAF’s invitational lecture series involving top international coaches.

Powell set the world record in long jump with 8.95 meters (29.36 feet) at the 1991 World Championships in Athletics in Tokyo. He is a two-time world champion and has also won two Olympic silver medals.

FOOTBALL

Pohang Steelers acquire Paraguay-born midfielder

Korean football club Pohang Steelers announced Sunday they’ve acquired Paraguay-born Korean midfielder Kim Hyun-sol.

The K League Classic team said Kim will join the squad after undergoing his physical Jan. 4.

Kim previously played for the second-division Brazilian outfit Clube de Regatas Brasil. Born Francisco Hyun Sol Kim, he has been called simply Chico during his playing career. Pohang said Kim has permanent residency in Brazil but also has Korean citizenship.

“Kim Hyun-sol has great individual skills,” the Korean club said. “He’s going to play as an attacking midfielder for our club.”

OLYMPICS

2018 Winter Olympic ticket sales surpass 60 percent

Ticket sales for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics have surpassed 60 percent, the event’s organizers said Sunday.

There are 47 days left until the Feb. 9 opening ceremony of the first Winter Games in Korea. And as of Thursday, 655,000 tickets had been sold, or 61 percent of the organizers’ target of 1.07 million tickets.

The quadrennial competition will run through Feb. 25, with athletes competing for a record 102 gold medals across seven sports and 15 disciplines.

Sales for the tickets had been sluggish, but PyeongChang passed the 50 percent mark in ticket sales on Nov. 24.

The recent opening of a high-speed railway connecting Seoul and PyeongChang, some 180 kilometers (111.8 miles) east of the capital, should further boost ticket sales, the organizing committee added.

Among the sports in competition, alpine skiing has been the most popular so far, with 81 percent of the tickets sold, followed by cross-country skiing (79 percent), short track speed skating (74 percent) and bobsleigh (70 percent).

The opening ceremony has seen 67 percent of its tickets sold so far.

Yonhap