Watch: Korea field one team at World Team Table Tennis Championships

  • Abreshmina S Quadri
  • Halmstad
  • May 4, 2018
  • UPDATED 19:32 IST

HIGHLIGHTS

  • South and North Korea were supposed to play against each other in the quarter-finals
  • In the match, all three Korean players lost their matches against their Japanese opponents
  • The Koreans had fielded a joint women's hockey team at Winter Olympics
South Korea and North Korea
South and North Korea united as one team on Friday and played against Japan (International Table Tennis Federation Facebook Screen grab)

HIGHLIGHTS

  • South and North Korea were supposed to play against each other in the quarter-finals
  • In the match, all three Korean players lost their matches against their Japanese opponents
  • The Koreans had fielded a joint women's hockey team at Winter Olympics

South and North Korea played as a unified team on Friday in the semi-final of the Women's Championship Division against Japan at the World Team Table Tennis Championships in Halmstad, Sweden.

In a historic moment yesterday, it was announced by International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) that Korea will thereon participate in the tournament as one team, combining players from Korea Republic and DPR Korea.

South and North Korea were supposed to play against each other in the quarter-final yesterday but they came on the court, announced the unification and walked away as one team.

On Friday, the historic moment came to play in the arena as the players played under one flag. Jihee Jihon, Kim Song and Haeun Yang played in the semis as Team Korea.

All three players lost their matches against their Japanese opponents but the moment proved to be a major breakthrough in the ongoing attempts of Korean unification.

The last team a united Korea participated in the World Team Table Tennis Championships was in 1991 in Chiba, Japan, when they won two Bronze in Men's singles and Mixed doubles and a Silver in Women's singles.

The unified team posed with their new flag after the match and pushed out a huge message.

Earlier some of the ladies of the historic team had expressed their elation over the unification and were excited to work together and create a stronger unit.

"It's really unbelievable but now we are a unified team. At least now we can be a more powerful team," Suh Hyowon said in a video shared by ITTF.

"Now we need to practice more and also we need to talk more. Now we get our skill and power, so I think we can be a stronger team. I think we can get a more successful result," she added.

Suh shared that she saw a movie about the united team and now, it felt a bit strange.

"Actually I saw a movie about the united team in 1991. I feel a little bit strange that I'm in the united team now.

"I hope we can make something like it was in the movie."

Kim Song agreed with her 'now' teammate and said she had also seen the video and a united team is powerful.

"I also saw this video and the power of the united team. Like who knew back then that they could beat China at that time," she said.

According to media reports, South and North Korea are also having discussions over forming a unified team for the upcoming Asian Games.

North and South Korea had divided after the second World War and it was North Korea's participating in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics that began the diplomatic breakthrough.

At the Winter Olympics in February, the Koreans had fielded a joint women's hockey team and had also walked under a unified flag in the opening ceremony.

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