Asians in American Sports | Asian American Poll

ASIANS IN AMERICAN SPORTS
(Updated Wednesday, Jan 22, 2025, 04:39:09 AM to reflect the 100 most recent valid responses.)

Which male athlete has done the most to promote the image of Asian American men?
Tennis Player Michael Chang | 36%
Pitcher Chanho Park | 23%
Golfer Tiger Woods | 8%
Linebacker Dat Nguyen | 13%
Rightfielder Ichiro Suzuki | 14%
Left Wing Paul Kariya | 6%

Which female athlete has done the most to promote the image of Asian American women?
Figure Skater Kristi Yamaguchi | 19%
Pool Player Jeanette Lee | 1%
Figure Skater Michele Kwan | 58%
Golfer Se-ri Pak | 22%

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WHAT YOU SAY

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Chitown Depressant & Confucius,

I like the small parts in your posts about Yao Ming I also think that the BOOS had very little to do with the fact he is asian. and like Confucius stated lets wait until he proves himself like lIchiro, Nomo did. Being 7.5 definitely will give Ming an advantage but the NBA boasts players that are very adaptive so Ming will have to be prepared.
Great post guys!
Obsever Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 10:08:46 (PDT)

Mr. Time to make Donuts,

Having enough time in hands is not the subject here. Your colleagues clamor of being the best of the best is sadly bunch of lies.

Where have you been dude? These World Boxing Rankings are current. Do you know the word "CURRENT"? Check this site and any other sites pertaining to World Boxing Rankings. There are at least 20 Filipinos currently ranked. Incidentally, your colleagues claimed that Koreans ranked higher than the Filipinos in IBF, WBA or WBO? I myself don't find any Korean names there my dear. So what do you call that facts? Straight or Slanted?

www.fightnews.com
http://64.125.131.140/rankings2.htm

Yeah, best DJ's that Americans can have are the World Turntablism Champions Filipino-Americans. Sadly, no Korean names there again. What have you contributed to your country aside from arrogance? This is all about domination and competition right? no matter what field.

So what's the fuss about beauty pageants? Coz your country never won? Is that so? I can smell the sour grapes your eating. As sour as the vinegar. Oh, I know, sadly Male Koreans are known for being sexists.

And why you didn't comment about the most winningest Asian country in Singing Competition/Songwriting Composition? eh? What are you gonna do now? huh? Are you that embarrassed? Are you on selective reading my dear? or Did you want me to list all Filipino International Singing Champions? I'll give you one example:
*** JOSEPHINE "BANIG" ROBERTO - International Star Search Grand Champion indirectly defeated Britney Spears, Leanne Rhymes and Christina Aguilera.

I know that a SLAP could hurt so damn bad to find out the truth that you lied to yourself.

It's about time to clear up your pathetic li'l minds. Grow up arrogant Koreans! And, I'm only talking to the arrogant ones.
educator Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 09:02:02 (PDT)

Spectator Sports - ... Kim Kisu took the World Boxing Association (WBA) junior middleweight title in 1966, and since then some 30 Korean boxers have become world champions, mostly in light to middle weight classes ...

http://www.korea.net/learnaboutkorea/hello/Ge
Corean boxing Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 08:26:35 (PDT)

SAD DUDE,

Excellent point. Michelle Kwan has been a disappointment. Her sister did the same thing.
SF AM Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 06:30:21 (PDT)

Very few if any Asians are popularized by the general American culture if any. The few that may be somewhat popularized are probably the female figure skaters such as Yamaguchi and Kwan. Are they liked more for their looks rather than their abilities??? I wonder... then again the figure skating fans are few in number compared to other sports such as basketball, football, and baseball. Yeah, many Asians know that Park is Korean and he made it to the big leagues... but he not a well known name like other players like McGuire. These players don't make the big dollars or get the big endorsements by NIKE, PEPSI, etc... So in reality we are still the glorified bench warmers of the sports world. There is one really big name that I can think of who is Asian but he doesn't publicly endorse his Asian heritage... that is Tiger Woods. Yup, he is just as much Asian as he is African American. I hate it that if you have a drop of black blood in you... you are considered African American. Yet you have a drop of any other blood... you are forgotten. I am happy to see a mixture of races when hey do come around... but I see that the topic is Asians in American Sports. Few if any are found in the top, maybe it is due to the fact that Asians are one of the smallest minorities in the US comprised about 5% of the total US population. Also the fact that many Asian parents prefer their children to study rather than to shoot hoops has to do something with it also... not a stereo type mind you but rather what I think happens on the average. Once we accept and push the next generation to strive to become good athletes and sponsor them to greatness... we won't see any changes. Now as for global, the arena of martial arts and aboriginal (country's organic sports stars) players are present. However, they again are not globally recognized. There is no Sumo in America, no badmitton tournaments, and soccer is not all that popular... we as the Asian Americans need to define and set trends and promote diersity even in the sports arenas. We need to unite together for equality regardless of our Asian nationalities... Filipinos, Chinese, Koreans, Chinese... we all support one another. We don't see blacks segregating themselves by Nigerian vs the Egyptians... I see a strong Nationalistic feelings rather than embraceing the Asian cultures within a community and endorsing, sponsoring their local sport activities so that we can get the name recognitions like the other races.
Yoon Dong Jin hansenarmy@yahoo.com Tuesday, August 13, 2002 at 19:35:48 (PDT)

AC Dropout loser,
when was the last time a Chinese was crowned the World Champion in boxing in any class? How about a gold medal in wrestling? Judo? Taekwondo?
SHUT YOUR TRAP BITCH! A Chinese can't afford to diss Coreans in any of these events. Stick to ping pong.
Reality bites Tuesday, August 13, 2002 at 18:38:33 (PDT)

Kung-fu was rated number one by the top martial artists around the globe with the practitioners ability to face high tolerance to pain, perform incredible feats, practice of high power (the chi.)
They showed these rankings in the Discovery channel. Escrima(Fiipino Martial Arts) was rated #8 while Grappling (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) was rated # 10. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu copied from the Japanese so in reality it has no originality. In fact it is the same with a couple of so called new tricks. Without a certain Japanese master moving to Brazil, there wouldn't even be a so called Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is useless in street fighting because it focuses on pining the foe to the ground. You can't do that when three men want to beat you up. You attack one and the other two are going to kick you to the ground.

You might recall Bruce Lee's stick fighting in "Enter the Dragon." His Filipino friend, Danny Inosanto taught him that, who is presently a master of Escrima and Jet Kun Do in echange for teaching him. Tae Kwan Do is rated in 5th place.

Shaolin Kung-fu is practiced secretly. It is a sacred art. Practicioners usually have a code of silence and honor, to not use Kung-fu for anything else but to defend themselves when in trouble.

They don't compete because it is only for the enlightened one. These Monks have mastered the art of the "Death Touch." Even the Shoalin former Monks who teach overseas won't teach those techniques openly to all students. Most prefer only to teach it to Asian students. They must be trusted, therefore, spending ten years with a master is common.

There have been cases throughout history when the practioners were forced to use this in order to defend themselves and in most cases the victims die or left paralyzed for life. The practitioners practice this to the verge of perfection so a simple mistake from the victim-to-be will lead to his ultimate demise.

During the Chinese Revolution, a certain Chinese Kung-Fu master called "the man with the iron hand"
was forced to use Kung-Fu to defend himself. The ultimate result lead to the many victims ultimate demise. This is only one, of the many cases.

Kung-Fu is for real and very deadly. By all means, stay away and do not provoke these practitioners.

They named the Japanese "Ninja" the most amazing warrior of all time. They truly are.
The Dude Tuesday, August 13, 2002 at 17:54:45 (PDT)

Rocky,

Now this is ridiculous. Seriously, get a life!
Rocky-beater Tuesday, August 13, 2002 at 17:54:05 (PDT)

Rocky,

Found some interesting tidbits for you. Yup Filipinos are great boxers after all.

WBC #9 NAGO DECKS TUNE-UP BOUT BY EASILY FINISHING A FILIPINO
October 16, 2000
Tokyo, Japan-WBC #9 ranked super-fly southpaw Akihiko Nago, 118, blasted out a fragile Filipino named Archie ,118, as he easily dropped him three times to score an automatic KO win at 1:58 of the second round.

Nago, managed by ex-WBA junior fly champ Yoko Gushiken, thus confirmed his shot at the WBC 115-pound title against Masamori Tokuyama in Osaka on December 12. Nago raised his mark to 18-1, 12 KOs. The loser dipped to 23-24-6, 7 KOs.
Undercard:
Unbeaten Japanese #4 fly Takefumi Sakata, 112, ran his mark to 13-0, 5 KOs, when he sank Filipino Jun Magsipoc, 111 3/4, with a barrage of light punches at 2:53 of the 4th round in a semi-final 10.
Ryuji Kajihara, 123, dropped Marlon Terado, 121 3/4, with a single body shot in the second round of a scheduled 8. The winner is 8-3-3, 3 KOs.

The crowd severely jeered the very poor performance of the three Filipinos, as they seemingly failed to bring their fighting spirit from the Philippines. Magsipoc and Terado both didn�t pay any efforts to beat the count though they didn�t look to have suffered so serious damage. Lately our promoters have become reluctant to book Filipino boxers because of public criticisms against their unfaithfully disappointed showings here.

Get a life dude. Koreans are the best boxers in Asia. Accept it and move on in life.
c-web Tuesday, August 13, 2002 at 17:32:36 (PDT)

Rocky,

You need to get YOUR facts straight. First of all the, the Philippines little league world series team embarrassed the country in 1992. It wasn't an overage player that made them get disqualified. The teams are supposed to represent a city in their respective countries. The Philippines compiled an all-star team from the entire country and had them play local teams from other countries. This was a carefully orchestrated plan to cheat.

What are you talking about when you say "HE's just a year over the age limit and not mostly." That was the case with Danny Almonte and the NY team you idiot!!! The Philippines were caught red-handed cheating and disgraced the entire country. I recall reading how all of the players were carefully scouted to be recruited for the all-star team. It is obvious you have no idea what you are talking about. Check the facts and stop trying to remember things with your empty head. So sorry to burst YOUR bubble. Just accept the fact that the Philippines flat-out CHEATED!!!

Regarding boxing, you said check the facts and said �You said Korean ranked higher in IBF? WBA or WBO? Really? How come I didn't see any Korean names there? Unless, you have Spanish names.�

WBC Featherweight #1 contender, Injin Chi

WBC Super bantamweight #8, Youngjin Cho

WBC Super flyweight Champion � Masanori Tokuyama (Korean living in Japan - his trunks say "ONE KOREA" - gotta love that!)

WBC Junior flyweight Champion � Yosam Choi

IBF Strawweight #7 � Jaewon Kim

December 20, 2001 - OSAKA, JAPAN-Korean ex-OPBF champ Youngin Cho (13-3, 8 KOs), 122, surprisingly regained his OPBF 122-pound belt as he exploded powerful left hooks to sink previously unbeaten WBC #8 bantam Akihiro Kanai (15-1, 12 KOs), 121.25, Japan, at 2:01 of the opening round in Osaka, Japan.

March 11, 2001 YOKOHAMA, JAPAN-Busy-punching Korean Pilkoo Kang, 108, wrested the OPBF light flyweight title when he disposed of WBC #6 ranked Japanese Koki Tanaka, 107 1/4, with strong combinations at 1:59 of the 11th round on the undercard of the WBA super-fly title bout.

August 13, 2000 TOKYO, JAPAN-WBC #10 ranked Korean Pilkoo Kang, 108, kept his OPBF 108-pound title as he earned a decision over Japanese lefty Nobuyuki Enomoto(right photo), 108, over 12 heats.

Jan. 30, 2001 -- Choi Yo-Sam records a seventh-round knockout of Saman Sorjaturong in Seoul, South Korea to retain his WBC light flyweight title.

May 20, 2001 -- Masamori Tokuyama records a fifth-round knockout of Choi In-Joo in Seoul, South Korea to retain his WBC super flyweight title. (By the way, Tokuyama is a Korean in Japan)

Is this all necessary? I could provide more info, but unlike you, I do have a life. Anyways, Korean boxers are renowned worldwide for their conditioning. Every announcer acknowledges that Koreans are some of the most well-conditioned boxers in the world. Just accept the fact that Koreans are the best boxers in Asia in all weight classes. In the 1986 Asian Games, South Korea swept golds in ALL 12 weight classes. This was unprecedented in any major games. If Filipinos are so good at boxing, why couldn�t they even get one gold?? In terms of representing all weight classes, the Japanese are also fairly good. Thailand has some good light weight boxers as do the Philippines, but Koreans are stronger from top to bottom in weight classes. Filipinos are decent light weight boxers, but everytime I watch the Olympics, rarely do I ever see a Filipino. Almost all of the Asian boxers in the Olympics are Korean, both north and south. And I believe Holyfield, De La Hoya, Mercer, Riddick Bowe were all Olympians/amateurs.

Please note many Korean Olympians and amateurs give up boxing when they have to perform their mandatory military service of 3 years. This is a major obstacle for all Korean athletes in paving a professional career in sports. If it were not for this, more Korean Olympians and amateurs would continue boxing.
As a rational person, I have to admit Asians are not strong in the heavier weight classes internationally. No duh. The reason why I stated that Koreans are the best boxers in Asia is to explain that Koreans are at the top in all weight classes among Asians. All in all, Koreans are by far the best boxers in Asia.

Anyways, enough about boxing. Football season is just around the corner. Go Cowboys and Dat!!
c-web Tuesday, August 13, 2002 at 17:28:16 (PDT)

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