The first-ever gaming audition program in South Korea, “LoL the Next,” aired the first of seven episodes Sunday, introducing new talent to fans. This is the first program in the country that auditions nonprofessional League of Legends players. Sunday’s episode featured 40 contestants, who included trainees of LCK teams and former pro Hojin of the ROX Tigers. T1 Burdol, the current No. 1 in the Korean solo queue, was also shown. The contenders, all aged 16-29, are expected to

League of Legends Champions Korea has crossed the halfway point of the summer season, finishing the initial round-robin pairings and starting the first week of the second round last week. For the 10 teams in the LCK, the ultimate goal of the summer season is to emerge from the playoffs and qualify for the World Championships. However, how the World Championships will play out remains to be seen as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause disruptions. With the second biggest tournament in LoL,

Jakob Mebdi, the first non-Korean head coach in the League of Legends Champions Korea, is proving that importing foreign talent can work in the Korean esports scene game after game. Mebdi is also known by his game name “YamatoCannon,” which he started using as a League of Legends esports player.  When Sandbox Gaming announced the hiring of Mebdi as head coach before the summer season, many were surprised at the organization’s bold decision. Although some game indust

South Korea will host a pre-qualification round for the 2022 Winter Olympic women's hockey tournament, the sport's national governing body announced Wednesday. The Korea Ice Hockey Association (KIHA) said the second pre-qualifying round will run from Feb. 11 to 14 in 2021 in Gangneung, some 230 kilometers east of Seoul. Gangneung hosted all men's and women's hockey games during the 2018 Winter Olympics. The second pre-qualifying round will feature three groups of four teams. South Korea will

League of Legends Champions Korea’s 2020 summer season kicked off Wednesday, to the joy of many fans watching from home. Although the seats were empty in the LoL Park Arena in Jongno, Seoul, to prevent the spread of COVID-19, thousands of fans watched the opening games online. Although they felt bad about having no audience, players expressed joy at being able to play at the LoL Park Arena again after COVID-19 forced them to play in team facilities for the second half of the spring seas

A meeting of national Olympic organizations set to take place in Seoul this year has been rescheduled for October 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) and the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) jointly announced on Tuesday that the 2020 ANOC General Assembly, originally scheduled to be held Nov. 25-26 this year in Seoul, will instead take place from Oct. 26-27 next year at COEX Convention Center in the South Korean capital. The t

The 2020 League of Legends Champions Korea Summer season will start Wednesday with its opening match. 　 CGV, South Korea’s largest multiplex chain, will screen the competition on 22 screens across the country at its ScreenX theaters. ScreenX theaters have multiple screens, allowing the main screen to show the match while side screens show game data and analysis. Fans watching at CGV will get vouchers that can be used to purchase in-game items such as emotes and character skins. “

South Korean volleyball great Kim Yeon-koung has won a slew of individual trophies and team championships, and made more money than she can spend. There's just one thing that's missing from her sparkling resume: an Olympic medal. And the 32-year-old outside hitter decided that returning to the South Korean V-League, after 11 years away, would be an important part of the preparation for next year's Tokyo Olympics -- so much so that she was willing to take a major pay cut just to have a chance t

The world's top table tennis tournament set to take place in South Korea this year has been postponed to early next year due to lingering concerns over the novel coronavirus. The organizing committee for the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan said Friday that following a request from the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), it will look for new dates for the competition, which was scheduled to run from Sept. 27-Oct. 4. It was originally set for March 22-29 in the southeas

South Korean volleyball icon Kim Yeon-koung is considering a return to the domestic league, a source close to the player said Tuesday, amid uncertainty in international markets caused by the new coronavirus pandemic. The source confirmed an earlier television news report that Kim has left open the possibility of reuniting with the Heungkuk Life Pink Spiders in South Korea's V-League. She made her professional debut with the team in 2005. Kim, 32, became a free agent after her two-year deal wi

A Chinese team became the inaugural champion of the League of Legends Mid-Season Cup on Sunday, defeating several Korean teams. The cup features the top four teams from the Korean and Chinese leagues in the popular multiplayer online battle game, based on their spring competitions. Only one of the three League of Legends Champions of Korea (LCK) teams in the tournament, Gen.G Esports, was able to qualify for the semifinals, while three teams of China’s LoL Pro League -- JD Gaming, Top

South Korean volleyball superstar Kim Yeon-koung has left her Turkish club after two seasons, with her second tour of duty in China potentially up next. The Turkish team Eczacibasi VitrA announced on its website on Friday that Kim and the club have "parted ways by mutual agreement." Kim, who captained Eczacibasi during the 2019-2020 season, helped the team to two Turkish Super Cup titles, a silver and a bronze medal at the past two FIVB Club World Championships. Kim signed with Ecz

A meeting of national Olympic organizations set to take place in Seoul this fall has been postponed to next year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) and the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) jointly announced on Tuesday that the 2020 ANOC General Assembly, scheduled to be held Nov. 25-26 this year in Seoul, will instead take place in 2021. "ANOC and KSOC mutually agreed that given the current global pandemic and wide-spread res

The scheduled return of South Korean Olympic athletes to the national training center has been postponed indefinitely in light of a recent spike in new coronavirus cases. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee said Thursday that the first batch of athletes and coaches who had been set to report back to the Jincheon National Training Center next week will have to wait. They had cleared out of the training center in March, after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was postponed by one year due to the cor

The 2008 Olympic judo silver medalist Wang Ki-chun has been banned for life over sexual assault allegations. The Korea Judo Association (KJA) reached the decision unanimously following its disciplinary committee meeting in Seoul on Tuesday. Wang was arrested on May 2 on charges of sexually assaulting a minor. The KJA said, while Wang's allegations haven't been confirmed, the 31-year-old is found to have engaged in inappropriate relations with a minor and greatly damaged the integrity and soci