Combined Koreas in historic triumph
Print Edition
A day after a delivering the historic first medal for a combined Koreas team, the women鈥檚 dragon boat crew has upgraded to gold at the Asian Games.
The crew comprising South Koreans and the Democratic People鈥檚 Republic of Korea won the 500-meter dragon boat final yesterday at Palembang, which is co-hosting the Asian Games with Jakarta. A Koreas crew won the bronze in the 200m final on Saturday, and celebrated by joining together to sing a popular folk song 鈥淎rirang.鈥
At the medal ceremony yesterday, the 鈥渦nification鈥 flag was raised into the top position with the adopted anthem played during the medal presentations at a major multi-sports international event for the first time.
Kim Kwang Chol, a DPRK coach of the traditional canoe team, as saying he 鈥渇elt the strength of a unified nation when we came together, dedicated our minds to a single purpose, and paddled the boat forward.鈥
Rather than being added to the tally of either nation, the gold was awarded to Korea, the name given to the combined teams that are entered in rowing, canoeing and women鈥檚 basketball.
The Koreas, still technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, have fielded 60 athletes in combined teams in the three sports along with larger contingents for their respective national squads.
Athletes from both countries paraded into the opening ceremony together last weekend behind the 鈥渦nification鈥 flag, which features the outline of the peninsula in blue on a white background. It took a week to reap the medals, a big achievement considering the joint canoe crews only had three weeks of preparation.
In the 500m, the Koreans finished the six-team final in 2 minutes, 24.788 seconds to hold off China and Thailand.
There could be more gold for the Koreas, too, with the combined women鈥檚 basketball team reaching the semifinals with a 106-63 win over Thailand.
South and north have entered joint teams in previous international events, starting with the 1991 table tennis world championships, and more recently at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. The women鈥檚 ice hockey team at the Olympics had huge support despite losing all of its games, and inspired more cooperation.
The Korea鈥檚 women鈥檚 basketball team, featuring nine South Koreans and three from DPRK, will play Chinese Taipei in the semifinals. The Chinese Taipei beat the Koreas by two points in the group stage last week.
Track and field competition entered a second day with world champion Rose Chelimo winning the women鈥檚 marathon for Bahrain in a hot and humid race.
The Kenya-born Chelimo had a big lead by the 30-kilometer mark and won in 2 hours, 34 minutes and 51 seconds.
Chelimo represented Kenya internationally before switching to represent Bahrain ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She won the world championships title in London last year. Keiko Nogami held off the DPRK鈥檚 Kim Hye Song for silver.
While China is dominating the medals standings at the Games, there won鈥檛 be any gold, silver or bronze added in men鈥檚 singles in badminton, a sport the nation loves. Chen Long lost to Indonesia鈥檚 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 21-19, 21-11 in the quarterfinals, meaning China is set to miss a medal in the men鈥檚 singles for the first time since 2002, and only the second time since 1970.
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