Sports Briefs

FIGURE SKATING

Ice dance team finishes 7th at Four Continents contest

Korea’s sole ice dance team of Min Yu-ra and Alexander Gamelin finished seventh at the 2018 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships on Thursday, wrapping up the final rehearsal before the next month’s PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

The duo received 91.27 points in free skating at the competition in Taipei, Taiwan, to record a combined 151.38 points, including 60.11 points from the previous day’s short program.

The total score is just 0.62 point short of their best score of 152 points, which they set last year. Their ranking was one notch higher than last year’s Four Continents Championships in Korea, where they finished 8th.

At the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the Min-Gamelin duo will be Korea’s first ice dancers to compete at the Olympic ice dance event in 16 years.

FOOTBALL

K League to use video review system this season

Korea’s pro football league said Thursday it will use an English-made video review system this season.

The K League, operator of pro competitions, said its video assistant referees (VAR) will use Hawk-Eye equipment and software to review action on the pitch. The advanced video technology will be used in both first-tier K League Classic and second division K League Challenge.

The Hawk-Eye system is best known for its use of ball tracking in tennis competitions. The K League Hawk-Eye’s technology is also used in FIFA tournaments, Germany’s Bundesliga and Italy’s Serie A.

The K League said a Hawk-Eye system, with its various functions, will help referees make quick decisions on offside calls and verify complex situations on the pitch in detail.

To enhance the credibility of referee calls, the K League adopted VAR last July for its first division. The league office previously announced that video review will be used in the second division starting this season.

Yonhap