Koreas promote peace and prosperity at friendly basketball game
- 6 years ago
So we've digested the significance of the basketball matches,... let's take a closer look at the games themselves.
Won Jung-hwan reports.
The 25-member South Korean women's team began their training at 9:00 a.m. at Pyongyang's ( ) Ryugyong Chung Ju-yung Gymnasium... in an atmosphere of excitement and nervous anticipation.
And an hour later, the men's squad entered the same venue to warm up ahead of their game.
The women's game started at around 3:40 p.m. at Ryugyong Chung Ju-yung Gymnasium between teams made up of a mixture of North and South Korean players, and the men's game started two hours later.
The arena was packed with over 12-thousand spectators, including high-level officials from both countries.
As the players entered, South and North holding hands,... the crowd clapped and sang chants representing the two teams' slogan,… "peace" and "prosperity."
In fact, the mixed teams were named "Peace" and "Prosperity",… team Peace wearing white and Prosperity wearing green.
The first goal was scored by North Korea's Ro Suk-yong to huge applause.
It was all smiles, cheers and fans chatting to each other,... just like any other sporting event in the world.
Of particular interest in the women's game, was the ability of the North Korean players... since the two Koreas are planning to form a joint team at the upcoming Asian Games in August.
Standing out among the North Korean women was Park Jin Ah , only 15 years old.
Park is the tallest player in this tournament at 2-hundred-and-5-centimeters.
The results were close. In the women's game, team Prosperity won 103-to-102, and for men's side, two teams ended in draw at 102 points each. But the day wasn't about the results; it was about harmony -- seeing North Korean players pass the ball to South Koreans, and South Koreans passing to North Koreans.
It was unity on the basketball court for the first time in 15 years, and there are two more games set for Thursday.
Won Jung-hwan, Arirang News.
Won Jung-hwan reports.
The 25-member South Korean women's team began their training at 9:00 a.m. at Pyongyang's ( ) Ryugyong Chung Ju-yung Gymnasium... in an atmosphere of excitement and nervous anticipation.
And an hour later, the men's squad entered the same venue to warm up ahead of their game.
The women's game started at around 3:40 p.m. at Ryugyong Chung Ju-yung Gymnasium between teams made up of a mixture of North and South Korean players, and the men's game started two hours later.
The arena was packed with over 12-thousand spectators, including high-level officials from both countries.
As the players entered, South and North holding hands,... the crowd clapped and sang chants representing the two teams' slogan,… "peace" and "prosperity."
In fact, the mixed teams were named "Peace" and "Prosperity",… team Peace wearing white and Prosperity wearing green.
The first goal was scored by North Korea's Ro Suk-yong to huge applause.
It was all smiles, cheers and fans chatting to each other,... just like any other sporting event in the world.
Of particular interest in the women's game, was the ability of the North Korean players... since the two Koreas are planning to form a joint team at the upcoming Asian Games in August.
Standing out among the North Korean women was Park Jin Ah , only 15 years old.
Park is the tallest player in this tournament at 2-hundred-and-5-centimeters.
The results were close. In the women's game, team Prosperity won 103-to-102, and for men's side, two teams ended in draw at 102 points each. But the day wasn't about the results; it was about harmony -- seeing North Korean players pass the ball to South Koreans, and South Koreans passing to North Koreans.
It was unity on the basketball court for the first time in 15 years, and there are two more games set for Thursday.
Won Jung-hwan, Arirang News.