July 16, 2018
SPORTS
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 7
Koreas hold basketball friendlies in latest peace gesture
GOODWILL GESTURE. South and North
Korean players play friendly basketball games at
Ryugyong Jong Ju Yong Gymnasium in Pyongyang,
North Korea. The rival Koreas held two days of friendly
basketball competitions in Pyongyang in their latest
goodwill gesture amid a diplomatic push to resolve
the nuclear standoff with North Korea. (AP Photos/
Jon Chol Jin)
By Kim Tong-Hyung
The Associated Press
S
EOUL, South Korea — The rival
Koreas recently held two days of
friendly basketball games in
Pyongyang in their latest goodwill gesture
amid a diplomatic push to resolve the
nuclear standoff with North Korea.
Players from North and South Korea
were mixed into two teams that competed
against each other at the North Korean
capital’s Ryugyong Jong Ju Yong
Gymnasium.
A capacity crowd of 12,000 at the arena
applauded as the two women’s teams —
dressed in white jerseys that read “Peace”
and green jerseys that read “Prosperity” —
marched onto the court holding hands.
Team Prosperity defeated Team Peace
103-102, with North Korea’s Ro Suk Yong
scoring 18 points, according to pool
reports. The game between the men’s
mixed teams that followed ended in a
102-102 tie.
The South Koreans also played the
North Korean men’s and women’s teams
before returning home.
The games preceded a visit to North
Korea by U.S. Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo for meetings over the future of the
North’s nuclear program. North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un, a noted basketball
fan, was not seen at the gymnasium.
“Once they started playing, the players
showed quick chemistry and I was proud of
them,” said Lee Moon-kyu, the head coach
of South Korea’s women’s team, who will
also lead a combined Koreas team at the
Asian Games next month in Indonesia.
Lee, who plans to bring two or three North
Korean players to the Asian Games, said
he was impressed with “No. 9 and No. 7 on
Team Peace,” referring to North Korea’s Ri
Jong Ok and Jang Mi Kyong.
North Korea’s sports minister, Kim Il
Guk, said in a speech that the games
reflect the “revered determination of the
leaders of the North and South to bring
forward the future of a self-reliant
unification.”
The South Korean delegation, including
50 players and government officials,
arrived in Pyongyang on two military
aircraft.
“It feels like the first time I came here all
two sons are among the players who
travelled to the North, talked about his
friendship with retired North Korean
player Ri Myong Hun, a 7’9” center who
anchored the country’s national team
during the 1990s and early 2000s.
“There was a buzz when I shared a
glass of soju and talked with Ri Myong
Hun in 2003,” Hur said. Ri did not
attend a dinner reception for South
Korean players.
The exchanges are the latest result of a
diplomatic outreach to the South that Kim
announced during his annual New Year’s
speech. That led to the North’s participa-
tion in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics
in February and two summits between
Kim and South Korean President Moon
Jae-in. Kim has also met with China’s
President Xi Jinping and U.S. President
Donald Trump.
The inter-Korean summits have
facilitated a slew of goodwill gestures
between the Koreas, which have also
agreed to field combined teams at the
Asian Games.
Basketball diplomacy has something of
a history in North Korea.
Former NBA player Dennis Rodman
arranged a game in Pyongyang in 2014 for
Kim’s birthday.
South Korea’s Hyundai business group
built a basketball stadium in Pyongyang
during a previous era of rapprochement
between North and South Korea, and a
joint game was played there in 2003. Two
rounds of inter-Korean basketball games
were also played in 1999.
over again,” said Hur Jae, head coach of
South Korea’s men’s national team, who
previously visited Pyongyang for a joint
game in 2003. Hur, a former guard whose
q
JFA says Nishino will not return as Japan’s coach
By Jim Armstrong
AP Sports Writer
T
OKYO — Despite leading his team
to a thrilling and unexpected ride
at the World Cup, Akira Nishino
will not be back as Japan’s coach.
The Japan Football Association (JFA)
has confirmed Nishino will not continue as
coach of the national team when his term
concludes at the end of July.
“We (the JFA) will not persuade Nishino
to stay on the job as his term comes to an
end.” JFA president Kozo Teshima said at
a media conference.
Japan’s squad returned home following
its round-of-16 defeat to Belgium at the
World Cup in Russia.
The 63-year-old Nishino took over just
two months before the World Cup
following the surprise dismissal of Vahid
Halilhodzic.
Exceeding expectations, Nishino led
Japan to its first appearance in the
knockout stage since the 2010 tournament
in South Africa.
In April, the JFA said Nishino would
manage the team until the end of the
tournament.
“I coached the team with the notion that
I will only do this until the end of the World
h en .
nne
n.
Cup. I feel like I’ve fulfilled my duties,”
said Nishino, who was JFA’s technical
director before taking the job.
Four years after a hugely disappointing
campaign in Brazil, Japan entered the
World Cup as one of the lowest-ranked
sides. Few expected the Blue Samurai to
get out of their group, not least because of
the change at the top.
But following a 2-1 victory over
Colombia and a 2-2 draw with Senegal,
Japan advanced from its group despite a
0-1 defeat to Poland in its final group
match. Admittedly, its progress was down
to the fact that it received fewer yellow
cards than Senegal after the teams could
not be separated on points, goal difference,
or goals scored.
After a series of lackluster results in
friendlies under Halilhodzic leading up to
the World Cup, JFA sacked the Bosnian
saying
there
were
communication
problems between him and some of the
players.
Nishino took over with little time to
prepare and got Japan to play a more
attacking style which was on display when
they took a surprising 2-0 lead over
Belgium before three late goals dashed
hopes of an upset.
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