STOCKHOLM - Having taken another step towards the sporting rapprochement of North and South Korea, the unified Korean women's table tennis team was soundly beaten by Japan at the world championships in Sweden on Friday. The joint South Korea and North Korea table tennis team pose with a flag of the Korea peninsula at the world championshipsThe two Koreas on Thursday opted against playing each other, deciding instead to field a joint women's team for the semi-finals. Kim Song I, of North Korea, fared better in the second match but lost 11-4, 6-11, 11-8, 11-13, 16-14 to Japan's strongest player, Kasumi Ishikawa. Last week diplomatic rapprochement broke historic ground when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's visited the south for a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. North and South Korea formed a joint table tennis team once before, at the world championships in Chiba, Japan, in 1991, when they won the women's team title.

Source: Bangkok Post May 04, 2018 13:07 UTC