New Year Changes in Sports

“Welcome, pro volleyball.”

Pro volleyball will start for the first time in February. The time limit in pro baseball will be abolished, after the controversy over the unprecedented extra-inning games in last season’s Korean Series. Below is a list of changes that we shall see in sports events in the New Year.

Pro baseball-

Team standings will be determined by the percentage of victories, not the number of wins as it had been last season. The number of games played by each team will decrease to 126 from the previous 133. Instead of the time limit tie game, innings will now be limited to 12 in the regular season and 15 in the post season. The annual salary limit for foreign players will be increase to $300,000 from the previous $200,000, and games will be held in Jeju Province--which currently has no teams--as well in order to extend the base of the sport. The winner of the semi-playoffs will be determined in five games instead of three.

Pro volleyball-

Pro volleyball is to officially set sail on February 20. Games will be held in round-circuit style: Without the addition of new teams, the previous teams, such as Samsung Life, Hyundai Capital, LG Insurance, and Korean Air will tour each other’s home grounds. To increase thrill, a new rule will be applied to the game: In men’s games, two points will be given if the player succeeds a volley from a line drawn 50 cm behind the back attack line, and in women’s games, two points will be given to an attack made behind the previous back attack line.

Golf-

A player will lose amateur status only when he or she makes the final cut in the pro test. Until now, the National Golf Association took away a player’s amateur qualifications the moment he or she takes the pro test, regardless of success or failure, but now a player who fails the test will maintain amateur status and continue to enter amateur competitions.

Taekwondo-

To increase excitement and fair judgment, electronic whistles will be introduced to the game. The number of referees in charge of scoring will be increased to four from three and placed in each corner, and to induce various attack techniques, fist attacks will be allowed, but safety measures for the players will be considered first. Also, measures to introduce colored uniforms such as in Judo, and a proposal to increase elasticity of the uniforms, are currently in consideration.

Wrestling-

The par terre will disappear, and the rules will drastically change so that the games will consist of three two-minute rounds, instead of the previous two three-minute rounds. The player who wins two rounds first is to be the winner. A point will be given to a player even if he pushes the opponent off the mat, and for enhanced thrill, the winner of each weight will be determined in a day, as in Judo.

Archery-

Dress code rules will be strengthened. Female players cannot wear sleeveless shirts and cannot wear shorts or skirts that are shorter than the ends of the fingers when both hands are placed at her sides. Also, slippers and slipper-type sandals are prohibited. All players are to tuck their shirts into their shorts or skirts, and the players and coaching staff of each team should wear identical uniforms.

Table Tennis-

If a player fails to show up to a competition he or she has applied to participate in, penalties will be charged, thus pulling down the player’s world rank.

Sung-Kyu Kim kimsk@donga.com