N. Korea to Send 162 to Asian Games

Will North Korea be able to make the Top 10 again in this year’s Asian Games?

According to the organizing committee for the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006 on November 24, North Korea is dispatching 162 athletes (67 men, 95 women) including 38 soccer players to participate in 16 events: shooting, judo, swimming, track and field, gymnastics, boxing, cycling, weight lifting, softball, wrestling, wushu, and karate.

The North Korean team sent 195 athletes for 18 events to the 1998 Bangkok Games, and 184 athletes for 18 events to the 2002 Busan Games. After finishing in fourth place with 12 gold medals at the 1990 Beijing Games, North Korea ranked eighth (seven gold medals, 14 silver, and 12 bronze) at the Bangkok Games, and ninth (nine gold medals, 11 silver, and 13 bronze) at Busan. Their goal at Doha is 50 medals, including 10 gold medals, for a final ranking higher than that at Busan.

North Korea’s promising events for a gold medal are women’s soccer and shooting. The North Korean women’s soccer team is tops in its class, winning the U-20 World Youth Championship held in Russia in September. North and South Korea will meet on December 7 at the final game of the division league games. In shooting, Kim Jong-su, who won the silver medal for Men`s 25m Standard Pistol at the World Shooting Championships held in Zagreb, and Kim Hyun-ung, who ranked second in the Men’s 25m Centerfire Pistol event at the 2004 Asia Shooting Championship will be participating.

uni@donga.com