Team Korea earns doubles win

DOHA (Yonhap News) ― South Korean Ryu Seung-min and North Korean Kim Hyok-bong teamed up to capture the men’s doubles table tennis title here at the inaugural Peace and Sport Cup tournament.

The inter-Korean duo downed the pairing of Fan Yiyong of the U.S. and Grigory Vlassov of Russia in the final, 11-9, 11-3, 11-4.

At the exhibition table tennis event, co-organized by the International Table Tennis Federation and Peace and Sport Foundation, players from 10 nations that have been historically at odds with one another formed doubles teams for men and women. The U.S. and Russia, former Cold War rivals, and India and Pakistan, were among the other doubles teams.

In the women’s competition, the Koreans took home silver. Anna Tikhomirova of Russia and Lily Zhang of the U.S. edged South Korean Kim Kyong-ah and North Korean Kim Hye-song in the final, 6-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-3, 11-8.

For both men and women, five teams entered the competition.

Both all-Korean teams had received the top seeds and had byes to the semifinals.

In the semis, Ryu and Kim defeated Chen Qi of China and Ahmad Al-Mohannadi of Qatar in straight sets, 11-8, 11-4, 11-0. The Kim-Kim duo in the women’s bracket edged Carole Grundisch of France and Natsumi Miyake of Japan in the semis.