SEOUL (Reuters) – Pyeongchang has submitted its 2018 application file to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with South Korea still basking in glory from the Vancouver Games.

Bid leaders outlined the winter resort’s easy accessibility and overwhelming public support for the bid, the Korea Times reported.

South Korea is still buzzing after the country’s athletes finished a best-ever fifth in last month’s Vancouver medals table with six gold, six silver and two bronze.

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MONACO (Reuters) – South Korea’s new Formula One circuit is on schedule to be finished by July next year ahead of the country’s debut in October, organisers said on Thursday.

“It is totally on plan,” Kevin Lee, general manager of strategic planning, told reporters at a Monaco motorsport business forum.

“We have a plan to finish the whole construction work at the circuit on July 5 next year and up until now it is roughly 60 percent done,” he added.

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On the day it was released that Korean hero Yang Yong Eun, Asia’s first major winner, will play at the 2010 Ballantine’s Championship the tournament received another huge boost with the announcement that Ballantine’s is extending its title sponsorship by three years through to the 2013 event.

“We are delighted to secure Yang for the 2010 Ballantine’s Championship, having just extended the sponsorship deal for another three years,” commented Christian Porta, Chairman and CEO of brand owner Chivas Brothers.

“His signing symbolises the growing synergy between Ballantine’s and golf in Korea, and marks our commitment to drive the collaboration between Ballantine’s and golf forward.”

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SEOUL (Reuters) – Scantily-clad cheerleaders gyrating to corporate theme songs at South Korea’s professional baseball championship series are a far cry from the Christian missionaries who introduced the game to the country a century ago.

The Korean Series finished at the weekend with a dramatic walk-off home run in the deciding game seven that gave the Kia Tigers, owned by the carmaker, their 10th title.

They beat the SK Wyverns, owned by a leading mobile phone operator, and the series itself is almost as much about advertising as about who sits top of the local baseball world.

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SOUTH KOREA- Nike have extended its sponsorship of the Korean Football Association (KFA) for $27 million over a four year period. As part of the rights they would supply the national football team’s uniforms.

As part of the new contract, Nike will provide the national team with 24 billion won worth in sporting products and allow national team players to use cleats from other brands, the KFA said. Nike had paid the KFA a total of 15 billion won ($16.3 million) for a five-year contract that expires on Dec. 31.

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South Korea will host an official event on the U.S. Champions Tour schedule for the first time next year, the PGA Tour said on Wednesday.

The 54-hole strokeplay event will offer $3 million prize money and be played at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Songdo International Business District in the second half of 2010.

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