Joint Teams Feature in Asiad Draw

(ATR) Three teams from the Korean peninsula have been drawn against opponents for the 2018 Asian Games.

In Jakarta, Indonesia the draw for team events at the Asian Games was conducted determining sets of opponents featuring at next month’s multi-sport event. A traditional affair became historic with the first inclusion of multiple joint Korean teams, formed in the wake of the joint women’s ice hockey team that competed at the PyeongChang Olympics.

North and South Korean athletes will combine in women’s basketball, canoeing, and rowing teams during Jakarta 2018. Separate North and South Korean teams will compete in other sports. The Olympic Council of Asia set a requirement that combined teams could only be formed in disciplines that did not affect athlete quotas.

Only women’s basketball was subject to the draw in Jakarta. The team was drawn in a group against Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and India. South Korea won the women’s basketball tournament at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.

The joint teams will compete under a blue unification flag and should any team win a gold medal the Korean folk song "Arirang" will be played as an anthem. The acronym for the team will be "COR", the same as in PyeongChang.

"I think it is very good to have a unified team because it will promote friendship between the two sides of the Korean peninsula," Wei Jizhong, OCA Life Vice President, said in a statement following the draw. "The International Olympic Committee has already encouraged both Koreas to change, so the OCA will follow the IOC."

North Sending Table Tennis Team to Daejeon

North Korea will send a table tennis team to the Korean Open in Daejeon, South Korea.

The North’s participation in the event was confirmed by the International Table Tennis Federation.

This will be the first time a North Korean team has competed in an ITTF event in South Korea, although North Korea did send a table tennis team to the 2002 and 2014 Asian Games.

Earlier this year the North and South Korean women’s team combined at the World Team Championships to win a bronze medal.

"It is a proud moment for the ITTF to be able to support another sign of peace on the Korean Peninsula, by helping North Korea send a team to the Korean Open," Thomas Weikert, ITTF President, said in a statement. "After the momentous unified team at the 2018 World Table Tennis Championships which showed the world that countries can find peace on a table tennis table."

Both men’s and women’s singles and doubles will be contested in the Korea Open, along with mixed doubles.

Written by Aaron Bauer

For general comments or questions, click here .

25 Years at # 1: Your best source for news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com , for subscribers only.