2015 sports tainted with illegality
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By Nam Hyun-woo
Despite titles, feats and records this year, Korean sports stars had more apologies and regrets than celebrations as it had to deal with cases of match-fixing, illegal betting and gambling that continued to disappoint sports fans.
An active head coach of a Korea Basketball League (KBL) team was investigated by police for rigging games, with a number of active players also probed for sports betting. Some players were heavily punished, while others faced minor suspensions. For the former coach of Busan KT, Jeon Chang-jin, the prosecution is yet to announce a decision, but the KBL swiftly kicked Jeon out of the league permanently.
Even before the shock faded away, the overseas gambling scandal involving the country’s undisputed No. 1 Samsung Lions’ players made headlines. The names of three mainstay players were mentioned and they were left out of the Lions’ Korean Series championship roster, frustrating the club’s bid to win both pennant and championship for a fifth consecutive year. Oh Seung-hwan, the former Lions’ invincible closer, admitted that he gambled overseas and now sees his career falling apart, as his bid for Major League Baseball faces setbacks, while the free agent’s former team, Japan’s Hanshin Tigers, apparently gave up renewing his contract after the scandal.
Fallen hero
Park Tae-hwan
The year 2015 was a bitter year for Korean swimming champion Park Tae-hwan, who is the 2008 Olympic gold medalist and two-time silver medalist at the 2012 Olympic Games.
Park tested positive for a banned substance in September last year. Park claimed in January that he was not aware of the fact that it was a World Anti-Doping Agency-prohibited substance, but ended up facing an 18-month ban from the International Swimming Federation in January. Following the ban, Park was stripped of six medals he won at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, and until recently, was contending over liability with a doctor who injected him with the substance.
A Dec. 17 Seoul lower court ruling slapped the doctor with a one-million won fine for failing to explain to Park about potential side effects and other details when she gave him the shot. Though the ruling was made as Park’s initial claim was accepted, his Rio Olympics bid is still gloomy, because of a domestic Olympic committee regulation that automatically bans a suspended player from representing Korea for three years from the day their suspension expires. Park’s ban will end in March.
Moves to bigger circuit
For a number of athletes, their big league dreams have come true this year.
Following the soft landing of Pittsburgh Pirates’ Kang Jung-ho, who joined the majors last year and posted a .287 batting average with 121-for-421, 15 home runs and 58 RBIs, two more players became Korean big leaguers ― Park Byung-ho and Kim Hyun-soo.
Park joined the Minnesota Twins on a four-year, $12 million contract, generating a $12.85 million posting revenue for the Nexen Heroes, who exported Kang last year. For the Heroes, Park hit .343 with 53 home runs and 146 RBIs this season, leading the Korea Baseball Organization League’s home-run table for the fourth consecutive year.
Following Park was Kim who became the first Korean player to make it into the majors as a free agent, after signing a two-year, $7 million deal with the Baltimore Orioles. His impressive numbers in the previous season ― a .326 batting average with 28 home runs and 121 RBIs ― got a number of big league teams interested in him, while he opted for the Orioles.
In football, Son Heung-min, long regarded as a budding star, proved that he is the biggest star playing actively, signing a five-year deal with the Premier League’s Tottenham Hotspur for a reported transfer fee of some 22 million pounds. He was the latest (13th) Korean to join the league, but became the highest-paid, enjoying a threefold jump in his value over two years.
Stielike’s tight-knit football
The country’s national football team has overcome the pain of the dismal 2014 Brazil World Cup outing under its new coach Uli Stielike’s leadership.
In the 20 A matches that the Taeguk Warriors played this year, they did not lose in 19 games, completing a whopping 16-3-1 campaign. While scoring 44 goals, they allowed only four, becoming the country that allowed the lowest goals among 209 FIFA members this year with 0.2 goals per a game. They did not concede a goal in 17 games.
During the solid campaign, Korea advanced to the Asian Cup final in January for the first time in 27 years and finished runner-up. In August, Stielike led the team of locally-based talent to win the East Asian Cup for the first time in seven years, while overwhelming Group G of the 2018 World Cup Asian qualifiers second round with six consecutive victories.
First ever top finish in Gwangju
In summer, the southern city of Gwangju hosted the Universiade, which was the third of its kind to take place on Korean soil. In the student games, the hosts finished at the top of the medals table for the first time in its summer Universiade history with 47 gold medals, 32 silvers and 29 bronzes, far exceeding the initial goal of a third-place finish with 25 golds.
Judo, rhythmic gymnastics and tennis were major contributors. Judokas collected eight golds, propelling their country’s campaign in the early days of the competition, while tennis players also earned unexpected medals, with young star Chung Hyeon becoming a double gold medalist by winning the men's singles and team event; women's duo Han Na-lae and Lee So-ra won the doubles event. Rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae was the star of the Games as she clinched three gold medals,
The games came amid fears over Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) that put the country into nationwide chaos in dealing with the highly infectious disease. However, the Gwangju Universiade organizers were complimented for “staging the event quite successfully,” having control over not only the disease but also costs for the event.
Champions of inaugural Premier 12
In November, the Koreans became the first champions of the Premier 12, an inaugural international baseball tournament created to replace the Baseball World Cup, after beating the United States 8-0 in Tokyo.
As each team played 144 games in the 2015 KBO, the full roster for the Baseball World Cup team was able to assemble about a week before the tournament, raising questions about their campaign. They made a bad start, suffering a 0-5 loss against Japan in the opener.
Marking the No. 3 spot in Group B, they advanced to the knockout stage and again faced Japan’s flamethrower Shohei Otani, who had blanked the Koreans in the opening game. Overwhelmed by Otani, the Koreans trailed three runs behind until the last inning, but managed to turn around the game, collecting four runs in a thrilling ninth.
Female golfers remain solid
Korean female golfers remained strong this year also, proving that Korea is a top powerhouse in the golfing world.
Among 31 LPGA tour events this season, 15 were won by Koreans. Adding those who have Korean heritage, such as Lydia Ko and Alison Lee, the number rises to 21.
Of them, Park In-bee accomplished a feat only seven LPGA golfers have ever done, completing a career grand slam, which means winning four different majors in one’s career. She also collected five titles this year.
For the rookie of the year award, which was also heavily contested by Koreans, Kim Sei-young clinched the honor after claiming three victories in the season.
In Japan, Lee Bo-mee dominated the JLPGA, claiming a whopping seven wins, seven runner-up finishes and 23 top 10 finishes in 32 events this season. She earned some 2.2 billion won in prize money, which was the most of any JLPGA in JPGA history.
Domestically, Chun In-gee had one of her best seasons, claiming five trophies in KLPGA play. She became the first women to win majors in Korea, Japan and the United States, after hoisting KLPGA's Hite Jinro Championship.
Chung’s botched FIFA bid
This year, the world saw the world’s top football body collapse, after a series of corruption scandals involving its ranking officials, including disgraced President Sepp Blatter.
As FIFA got mired, its former Vice President Chung Mong-joon launched his campaign to replace Blatter. The vocal critic, who served FIFA for 17 years, lashed out at Blatter and his former stalwart, UEFA President Michel Platini, for their behavior, bidding to separate himself from “corrupted authorities” at the body, but ended up facing a six-year ban from the FIFA Ethics Committee.
After that, Chung struggled to maintain his candidacy by filing a petition with a Swiss court to lift the ban temporarily so he could meet the deadline, but the court rejected his appeal, ruling out his chance of running.
The meltdown of FIFA is still ongoing and Chung continues his fight against FIFA through postings on his blog.