ASIAN GAMES COULD HAVE 7 JOINT KOREAN TEAMS: OFFICIAL
South Korean sports associations are considering forming joint teams with North Korea for the Asian Games in Indonesia, an official said — but reports said football will not be joining them. At their summit on Friday, the latest step in a rapidly moving diplomatic sequence, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the South’s president Moon Jae-in agreed to show solidarity by “jointly participating in international sports events such as the 2018 Asian Games”.
The phrasing left open whether it was a reference to unified teams, or marching together at opening ceremonies, as they have done at several Olympics. But a spokeswoman for the South’s national Olympic committee said that the country’s governing bodies for “basketball, judo, canoe, gymnastics, table tennis, rowing and soft tennis have expressed interest”.
No details had been discussed yet, she added. Seoul’s unification ministry declined to comment on the issue but said the two sides will soon hold a workinglevel meeting which may include discussions on joint teams at the Asian Games. Some sports bodies are already pushing ahead, proposing their own plans for the Asian Games, which will take place in Jakarta and Palembang from August 18 to September 2.
The Korean Canoe Federation said Monday a joint team for the dragon boat race — one of three canoe disciplines at the event — will be a good idea since neither Korea has a national team for it.
“Even if we form a joint team, it won’t affect any existing athletes,” the group said in a statement. The joint teams could hold open practice sessions on the Han river in Seoul as well as the Taedong river in Pyongyang, it added.
But the South’s football association declined the idea, Yonhap news agency reported, saying the move could require unwanted sacrifices from its players.
In South Korea, male athletes who win gold at the Asian Games or any Olympic medal are exempted from the country’s mandatory two-year military service. When it rains it un-bores. That was the logic offered by former Formula One despot Bernie Ecclestone, a canny British owl with an eye for spectacle, as he suggested organising artificial showers of rain to make things more unpredictable. “Why not let it rain in the middle of a race?” he had asked in 2011. “For 20 minutes or for the last ten laps? Suspense would be guaranteed.”
This is not untrue. Something strange that levels out the playing field — an on-track collision, for example, or a freak shower with little time for teams to adequately react — does indeed provide on-track fireworks and ensure great television, but we must remember that races that are too stuffed with highlights admittedly hurt drivers working hard at the front. Shuffling a deck in the middle of the game is unfair to those holding the aces.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix
SEOUL:Seven