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Japan’s Akifumi Shimoda will face compatriot Hiromasa Ohashi on March 26 in the latter’s hometown of Nagoya. The fight will be for the OPBF Super bantam weight title currently held by Ohashi. This will be Ohashi’s second defense of the title.

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South Korean Seok Hyun-jun has signed with AFC Ajax in the Eredivisie becoming the first Asian football player to sign with the prestigious Dutch club. The 18-year old striker also became the eight footballer from South Korea to play in the Netherlands. Among those who played in the Eredivisie before Seok are Huh Jung-moo, Park Ji-sung, Lee Young-pyo, Roh Jung-yoon, Song Chong-gug, Kim Nam-il and Lee Chun-soo.

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Midfielder Koo Ja-cheol of South Korea will undergo a trial with the Blackburn Rovers of the English Premier League. The 3^rd pick overall in the K-League 2007 draft is currently under contract Jeju United but has received green light from manager Huh Jung-moo to join the tryouts late this month.

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Ken Takahashi of Japan will rejoin his former team Hiroshima Carp in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) after a brief stint with the New York Mets in the Major league Baseball (MLB). The 40-year old native of Yokohama hopes to end his career with the Carp where he started his professional career in 1995.

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WBC straw weight champion Oledong Sithsamerchai of Thailand is set to defend his title to Juan Palacios of Nicaragua on Friday, November 27 in Pathum Thani, Thailand.  It will be the first mandatory title defense for Sithsamerchai after defeating Eagle Den Junlaphan last November 2007. He vows to keep his record clean which now stands at 32-0-0 with 12 KOs.

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South Korea’s golf phenom Shin Ji-Yai came short of grabbing the LPGA Player of the Year Award after finishing eight in the recent LPGA Tour Championship in Texas. Shin Ji-Yai already clinched the Rookie of the Year award though. She has been on the spotlight for the past months for her superb performances that would have put her as the first golfer after Nancy Lopez in 1978 to win both the Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year awards.

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South Korea national team manager Huh Jung-moo recently won the Asian Football Confederation’s Coach of the Year award in the annual awards in Kuala Lumpur.  Huh Jung-moo guided his team to qualify in the 2010 World Cup and once had a 27 game winning streak before bowing to Serbia in friendlies last November 18. He became to the fifth South Korean to receive such honor.

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Japan’s Yasuhito Endo was named Asian Football Confederation’s Player of the year at the annual awards ceremony in Kula Lumpur. Endo who also plays for local club Gamba Osaka beat fellow Japanese Kengo Nakamura, Firas Al Khatib of Syria and Hadi Aghily of Iran for the coveted plum.