North Korea yesterday threatened to review its decision to enter the upcoming Asian Games in South Korea, a day after talks on the Games broke down.
The North’s plan to send athletes and cheerleaders to the Games is among a set of measures it recently proposed to ease tensions between the rivals. Many in South Korea doubt how sincere the North is about its overtures, as the country has been conducting an unusually large number of missile and rocket launches in recent weeks.
The two Koreas met at a border village on Thursday for talks on the North’s participation in the Games, but the meeting ended with no agreement.
Pyongyang yesterday blamed South Korea for the breakdown, accusing the country of taking issue with the number of athletes the North plans to send, while citing safety concerns.
The North Korean delegates told their counterparts that the South Korean objections were aimed at stopping the North from attending the Games and that the country would now re-examine its participation if Seoul maintains such a stance, the agency reported.
South Korean delegates tried to find out details about the North Korean athletic squad and raised worries that big flags could cause a safety issue for North Korean cheerleaders.
The officials said that North Korea said that they wanted to send 350 athletes and 350 cheerleaders to the Games scheduled for Sept. 19 to Oct. 4 in Incheon.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was