Kia Tigers players and coaches celebrate their 10-0 win over the Lotte Giants in a Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in the southern city of Gwangju on Sept. 12, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Korea Bizwire) — From domestic baseball and football contests to international tennis matches, there will be no shortage of sports action to keep fans in South Korea entertained during the five-day Chuseok holiday.
The regular season in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) is winding down, and this has been the most successful campaign in terms of attendance with a single-season record of over 9.8 million fans through Thursday.
The Kia Tigers can clinch the best record in the regular season, and also a direct ticket to the Korean Series scheduled in October, over the next five days.
After Thursday’s games, the Tigers were in first place by 6.5 games over the Samsung Lions with a record of 81-50-2 (wins-losses-ties). They have 11 games remaining, and the magic number — the combination of their wins and the Lions’ losses — for the regular season crown is down to five.
The Tigers can lock down the top spot as early as Monday in Suwon, just south of Seoul, against the KT Wiz. With a comfortable lead over the Lions, it seems only a matter of time before the Tigers secure a spot in the Korean Series.
Son Heung-min of South Korea celebrates after scoring against Oman during the teams’ Group B match in the third round of the Asian World Cup qualification at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Muscat on Sept. 10, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
In the K League 1, the top football competition, the top two clubs in the table will square off Friday evening, as Ulsan HD FC, two-time defending champions currently in second place, host league-leading Gangwon FC at Munsu Football Stadium in Ulsan, some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
Gangwon and Ulsan each have 51 points from 15 wins, six draws and eight losses, but Gangwon are in first place thanks to their 53-48 edge in goals scored, the first tiebreaking category.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, three K League representatives will play their first matches of the new Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League Elite tournament.
Yang Min-hyeok of Gangwon FC (L) and Lee Jae-won of Suwon FC battle for the ball during the clubs’ K League 1 match at Gangneung Stadium in the eastern town of Gangneung on Sept. 1, 2024, in this file photo provided by the Korea Professional Football League. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
This is the rebranded version of the AFC Champions League. In lieu of a more conventional group stage, the 24 teams in the new competition have been split into East and West regions, and they will play eight matches against different opponents. The top eight teams each from East and West will advance to the round of 16.
On Tuesday, Gwangju FC will host Yokohama F. Marinos, while Pohang Steelers will visit Shanghai Shenhua. The following day, Ulsan will play Kawasaki Frontale at home.
In European football, Son Heung-min, captain for both the South Korean national team and Tottenham Hotspur, will try to lead his Premier League club past Arsenal in their “North London Derby,” beginning at 10 p.m. Sunday in South Korean time.
Son is riding high after scoring a goal and setting up two others in South Korea’s 3-1 win over Oman in a World Cup qualifying match in Muscat on Tuesday.
In the early hours of Sunday here, Lee Kang-in of Paris Saint-Germain and Kim Min-jae of Bayern Munich will be playing their respective French and German league matches.
Also during the Chuseok long weekend, Seoul will host the Korea Open, the country’s lone WTA tournament each fall. World No. 1 Iga Swiatek is set to play in South Korea for the first time, and the five-time Grand Slam singles champion will be the first current No. 1 player to appear at the Korea Open since the tournament was first held in 2004.
Other big names include Karolina Pliskova, former world No. 1 and 2014 Korea Open champion, Emma Raducanu, the 2021 U.S. Open champion who reached the semifinals at the 2022 Korea Open, and Daria Kasatkina, the 2022 French Open semifinalist.
The event has been elevated from WTA 250, the lowest level of tour events, to WTA 500, meaning the champion will earn 500 world ranking points. The purse has been raised from about US$260,000 to US$1 million.
The competition begins with qualifying matches on Saturday and Sunday, and the main draw matches will begin Monday.
(Yonhap)
