Unified Korean table tennis team to be formed next month in Osaka

South and North Korea will form their unified table tennis team on Apr. 8 for the upcoming 46th World Table Tennis Championships in Osaka, Japan. The players on the single Korean squad are expected to start joint training in Osaka on that day.

The Korean Table Tennis Association (KTTA) is discussing working-level issues with its northern counterpart in accordance with the South-North agreement on the single team, which was reached during Culture-Tourism Minister Kim Han-Gill`s visit to the North last week. The KTTA concluded that it would be difficult for the two sides to hold three weeks of joint drills as earlier planned and conveyed to the North Thursday a modified plan to reduce the training period to two weeks.

Meanwhile, Park Do-Chun, chairman of the preparatory committee for the single Korean team, said in the regular meeting of the KTTA representatives Wednesday, ``We will have one week of joint training in an undetermined place and have strategic training programs in Osaka for another week.``

The KTTA reduced the training period on the judgment that working-level preparations like the formation of the team and production of uniforms would be impossible to complete by Apr. 1. The two teams are most likely to meet at Kansai Airport in Osaka on Apr. 8.

The Korean players will formally inaugurate the single team in a ceremony at the airport and hold a press conference before traveling to the first training site. Full-fledged training will start from Apr. 9.

They will move to the championship tournament site in Osaka on around Apr. 16 and lodge at the Miyako Hotel from Apr. 20 to prepare for the opening of the event.

The organizing committee of the championships will select the site for the first-phase joint training. A strong candidate site is Hashimoto Gym in Wakayama Prefecture.

[Yonhap]