Long-time foes North and South Korea played a World Cup qualifier on
Tuesday, their first football match in the North in 30 years, but no
fans were allowed in the stands and Pyongyang refused to broadcast the
game live. There were also no goals.To get more
korea world cup, you can visit shine news official website.
The last time the two sides met in a World Cup qualifier was in
Seoul 10 years ago, when the North lost 1-0 before accusing South Korea
of poisoning their players’ food ahead of the match.Reclusive North
Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war
because their 1950-53 civil conflict ended in a truce, not a peace
treaty.
National anthems of both sides were played before the match kicked
off at the Kim Il Sung Stadium and the flags of the two countries were
on display, the South’s Korea Football Association said.
Two earlier qualifiers that had been scheduled for North Korea had
to be switched to Shanghai after Pyongyang refused to raise the South’s
flag or play its anthem. North Korea had promised to provide footage of
the match on DVD, the South’s unification ministry said.
“We would need time for technical checks but despite some delays our
people will be able to watch the game,” a ministry official said on
condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.North Korea’s
official KCNA news agency issued a brief report early on Wednesday,
saying the qualifier ended in a 0-0 draw after a series of “attacks and
counterattacks”.Two players on each side received yellow cards, the KFA
said.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino was at the match and said in a
statement that he was “disappointed to see there were no fans in the
stands”.
“We were surprised by this and by several issues related to its live
broadcast and problems with visas and access for foreign journalists,”
he said, adding that, for Fifa, freedom of the press and freedom of
speech were paramount.
Last year saw a flurry of sports diplomacy between the two Koreas,
which fielded a joint ice hockey team and marched together at the
opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.That set the
stage for a series of summits between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un
and the South’s Moon Jae-in. The two Koreas even talked about a joint
bid to host the 2032 Summer Olympics.
But relations have since cooled over stalled negotiations over North
Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.In addition to the TV
blackout and empty stands, South Korean media were also blocked, with
only some 30 KFA staff with limited communications allowed to relay
information about the game, Seoul officials said.
South Korea’s squad, including Tottenham Hotspur striker Son
Heung-min, arrived in Pyongyang on Monday via Beijing instead of a
shorter route across the DMZ between the two Koreas, after months of no
response from Pyongyang.
“There have always been at least some South Korean fans, so it will
be our first time to play without any,” defender Kim Min-jae said before
leaving for Beijing on Monday. “But we can overcome and play well.”One
South Korean user of the South’s Naver web portal said: “How do we
co-host the Olympics when we can’t even watch one single qualifier?
A table tennis, or ping-pong, competition in Shanghai on Saturday will
mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic
relations with the United States, the 46th anniversary of Richard
Nixon’s visit to China, and the announcement of a joint communique by
the two governments in the city.To get more
ping pong diplomacy, you can visit shine news official website.
Exchanges between table tennis players from the two countries in the
early 1970s marked a thaw in Sino-American relations and paved the way
for the 37th US president's visit in 1972.
At the end of his visit, the first Sino-US joint communique was
announced in Shanghai, playing a crucial role in the establishment of
relations between the two countries.The competition will be held in the
Chinese Table Tennis Museum in Huangpu District on Saturday afternoon.To
register for the competition, foreigners can call 1580 1959 676, 1330
1656 958, or 1390 1018 139 until Thursday.
The event is part of programs hosted by the Chinese People’s
Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and organized by the
Shanghai People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and
other organizations to celebrate the 40th anniversary of China’s reform
and opening up.
Among the Chinese players at the Maples Pavilion exhibition will be
Deng Yaping, considered the best woman table tennis player in history,
according to tournament organizer Dennis Davis, the U.S. national table
tennis coaching chairman. A world champion since 1991, Deng won two gold
medals each in the 1996 and 1992 Olympics. The men's team will be led
by Liu Guoliang, 1997 world men's team champion and a double gold
medalist at the 1996 Olympics. They will be joined by Yang Ying and Ding
Song, members, respectively, of the women's and men's '97 world
champion teams.
The Northern California team includes Khoa Nguyen of San Jose, a
U.S. men's world team member from 1987 to 1995; Shashin Shodhan of
Fremont, a 1996 U.S. high school boy's champion who is now a sophomore
at the University of California-Berkeley; Tawny Banh of Los Angeles, a
1997 U.S. women's world team member, and Michelle Do of Milpitas, who
currently ranks No. 1 among U.S. girl players under 16.
The table tennis matches are scheduled for 6 p.m. on Sunday, July
27, at Stanford's Maples Pavilion. Tickets may be purchased by phone at
(510) 601-8932 or (408) 287-5680, on the web at www.ticketweb.com. The
reception is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. on Monday, July 28, at the Stanford
Faculty Club. Reception tickets may be purchased by calling (415)
964-6130.
