By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

Police caught several sports players involved in game manipulation and gambling Saturday, and vowed to root out irregularities clouding the sports world.

The police arrested a 28 year-old amateur footballer, Lee, for fixing game scores and gambling at a football match in July.

Three other players also joined hands with Chinese gamblers who paid them up to 2.5 million won each for playing according to fixed game results.

One such fixed game resulted in a 7-0 scoreline, something extraordinary in football, and causing some to lose or make money.

According to the police, K3 league match score manipulation is popular among hustlers in China since the amateur league gives them the opportunity to contact the players directly.

About 30 were involved with Lee; game broker Park and a Kim, were arrested Saturday. Lee's fellow players were summoned.

``This is the first time that players manipulated games for gamblers. We will be looking into other sports such as baseball, basketballs and volleyball,'' a police officer said.

Meanwhile, professional baseball pitcher Oh Sang-min, 34, of the LG Twins, was booked Friday for holding large-scale gambling with seven others in Daegu. The money set on the gambling table topped 3 million won per session, and the group has reportedly held more than 60 such sessions since October last year.

Oh has reportedly lost 70 million won and a car in the card games. Kim, the gambling house owner, has reportedly blackmailed the baseball star, which initiated Oh to come clean about his wrongdoings.

bjs@koreatimes.co.kr