South Korea ran in six tries to power past Kazakhstan 40-21 and chalk their second victory in the inaugural Asian Five Nations rugby tournament yesterday.
But it proved too little too late for the South Koreans with Japan, who have represented Asia at all six Rugby World Cups, only needing to draw against Hong Kong in Niigata today to claim the title.
Kim Young-nam gave South Korea the lead in the 17th minute when he crossed for their first try, but plucky Kazakhstan bounced back with Iklar Abdrazakor leveling the scores 11 minutes later.
PHOTO: AFP
Maxim Litopton duly converted the kick to unexpectedly hand them a two point lead.
But their hopes were soon dashed with South Korea back in front one minute later thanks to a Kim Tae-hyung try and a conversion by Hong Jun-ki.
South Korea racked up four more tries in the second half, one each from Chae Jae-young, You Young-nam, Kim Jeong-min and Park Noh-hoon, but they had an off day in the kicking department with none of the tries converted.
Tries by Dmitriy Pichugim and Grigori Ivanchenko opened the door again for Kazakhstan, but they could not close the gap further.
Kazakhstan have now lost all three games they have played.
The Arabian Gulf, the other team in the top tier of the Asian tournament, have the weekend off after running up three straight defeats.
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
RSS