Rio 2016 Olympics table tennis bronze medalist, Kim Song I, will lead the North Korean team to Seamaster 2018 ITTF World Tour Platinum Korean Open in Daejeon, South Korea holding on July 17-22. The historic event was initiated by the ITTF Foundation.
The news comes after the North Korean and South Korean team formed a unified team for the semi-final at the Liebherr 2018 World Table Tennis Championships which was a sign of peace on the table tennis
table.
ITTF President Thomas Weikert stated: “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. 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.”
The North Korean team is sending a delegation to South Korea, the move serving as the next chapter of a long history of table tennis diplomacy. Table tennis will once again act as a vehicle for peace. The newly formed ITTF Foundation is supporting the team to compete in the fourth ITTF World Tour Platinum event of 2018 as part of its Ping Pong Diplomacy program which is the first big program of the Foundation that promotes solidarity through table tennis.
The North Korean team, fresh from their strong showing at the Pyongyang Open, held last month, will test their might in the Seamaster 2018 ITTF World Tour Platinum Korean Open which starts on July 17 with the main draw starting on the
19th.
