The Ups and Downs of Korean Sports

In the past few weeks, Korean sports teams and stars have been in the international spotlight a little more than usual.  

It all started off with the 2009 World Baseball Challenge, with a cocky Korean team planting the Korean flag on the mound after an early-round victory against their historical rivals, Japan.  

Unfortunately, once again Korea had to face their rivals from across the East Sea (It's not the "Sea of Japan" dammit!) in the championship game.  Ichiro Suzuki's 10th-inning game-winning hit gave Japan the title and took some of the wind out of Korea's sails for a few days.

Luckily, young figure skating starlet Kim Yu-na soon resurrected Korea's national pride and "fighting" spirit.

In her performance at the World Figure Skating Championship in Los Angeles last Sunday, "Queen Yu-na" became the first woman ever to break the 200-point mark and did so with gusto and grace.  

This World Championship victory puts a big target on her back, as she will most certainly be the favorite going into the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.