by Ian Marshall, Editor

Throughout the tournament, the cries of “we are one” have resonated around the Daejeon Hanbat Stadium; throughout the host nation’s Jang Woojin and DPR Korea’s Cha Hyo Sim have been “As One”; just as in the film based on the 1991 World Championships in Chiba, when a Unified Korea outfit won the Women’s Team event.

“I felt very nervous because this was a huge match and had a lot of attention in the news. I felt like we needed to win this match and I am very happy we have done so. I never experienced any matches where I had goose bumps while playing table tennis but this was one of them, I would like to thank the fans for coming out to cheer for us. Thank you for the victory.” Jang Woojin

Only the third ever Mixed Doubles event on the ITTF World Tour but one of the most significant results since the very first tournament was staged in 1996 in England; the 331st ITTF World Tour tournament has a now a special status.

Five years ago when DPR Korea’s Kim Hyok Bong and Kim Jong beat Korea Republic’s Lee Sangsu and Park Youngsook in the final of the Mixed Doubles event at the Liebherr 2013 World Championships in Paris there was cause for celebrations in Pyongyang.

Now in 2018, there is cause for celebration in both Pyongyang and in Seoul, a day to remember.