Joint Korean team wins first match at Korea table tennis open

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A joint team representing the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) made a winning start as the Seamaster International Table Tennis Federation World Tour Platinum Korea Open began on Tuesday.

The inter-Korean team beat Spain 3-2 in a preliminary round mixed doubles match.

The six-day competition, which is taking place in the central ROK city of Daejeon, has brought together about 230 players from 27 countries and regions.

The DPRK is participating in the tournament for the first time with a delegation of 16 players and nine officials.

For the ITTF Korea Open, the ROK and the DPRK formed four unified doubles pairs: the ROK's Lee Sangsu and the DPRK's Pak Sinhyok for the men's doubles; Suh Hyowon and the DPRK's Kim Song I for the women's doubles; Jang Woojin and the DPRK's Cha Hyo Sim for mixed doubles; and Yoo Eunchong and the DPRK's Choe Il for mixed doubles.

On the first day of competition, Choe and Yoo faced the Spanish team of Alvaro Robles and Galia Dvorak in the preliminary round of the mixed doubles. After losing the opening game, Choe and Yoo won the second after Yoo smashed the ball into the corner. The Korean team, who trained together for just two days before the competition, won the fourth game 11-9 despite a loss in the third.

South Korea welcomed the DPRK table tennis delegation on July 17. /VCG Photo

At deuce in the fifth game, Choe and Yoo closed out the match with a 3-2 win and advanced to the round of 16.

"Honestly, I was moved and so happy when I hugged my teammate after the match. Even if it is not the first prize, it felt like the first prize for me," said Yoo.

The first time table tennis players from the two neighbors formed a joint team was for the world championships back in 1991, during an earlier period of rapprochement on the peninsula, when they shocked China to win the women's team gold.

"The ITTF is proud to support the reunification of the DPRK and South Korean table tennis teams again at the Korean Open, after the historic unification of the teams at the World Championships in Halmstad," said ITTF president Thomas Weikert.