PARIS \u2014 Question No. 1 at the table tennis news conference late Tuesday afternoon went to the North Koreans, whose silver medals in mixed doubles had just brought the first Olympic hardware since 2016 to the reclusive dictatorship. The question concerned how this curious No. 16 seed had reached such lofty caliber here when it seldom competes internationally, and also whether perhaps it had gathered some mettle by training in the table tennis empire of China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe trained in our own country,\u201d Ri Jong-sik answered through interpretation, from the far end of the table and the right edge of the four athletes present, his microphone off as the moderator scrambled over to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe trained in our own country,\u201d he repeated, microphone on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Question No. 2 went to China\u2019s gold medalists, ranked No. 1 in the world, and it concerned what they had found most difficult in their several-year path that ended in gold with a 4-2 conquest of the North Koreans. Sun Yingsha supplied a long answer full of hosannas for the opponent, including, \u201cThroughout the match I think the North Korean pair is quite rare in the international arena,\u201d and, \u201cWe never fight them before,\u201d and, \u201cI think they do have strong strengths,\u201d and, \u201cI think they have a distinctive style of play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Along North Korea\u2019s stunning trek through the bracket past No. 2 seed Japan, No. 8 seed Sweden and No. 4 seed Hong Kong, beaten opponents had commented to several news agencies about the pair\u2019s singular style and unusual use of long pimples on their paddles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sun called them \u201ca formidable opponent,\u201d and, true, the score had gone 11-6, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8. That sixth game had gotten to 8-8 with some points of dazzling duration before the Chinese made their closing burst to 11-8 and then saw Ri Jong-sik\u2019s last shot go long. They then looked at each other in wonder as gold medalists and rejoiced while the runners-up grabbed a large North Korean flag and posed for photos, then walked around the outer edge of the arena waving to the loud Chinese crowd and to the five people near the media section who had waved North Korea flags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Chinese followed that orbit moments later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their fans made those slightly shrieking roars yet again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Question No. 3 went back to the North Koreans, human beings from a citizenry so rarely seen or heard by other citizenries, and concerned how it felt to win the country\u2019s first medals in eight years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe learned from Chinese team which is always number one,\u201d Kim Kum-yong said. \u201cWe will do better next time to win the gold next time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Question No. 4 went back to the Chinese, about the fine delirium in the South Paris Arena Building 4, with the flags waving and the cheers booming with every China point and China\u2019s national anthem sung with relish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFirst of all,\u201d Wang Chuqin said, \u201cI\u2019m very grateful to be here, to make it to Paris, and to see so many Chinese fans, and to hear their cheers, and their cries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Question No. 5 went to the Chinese and dealt with intra-team communication, to which Sun, in her welcome dispensing of words, spoke of the need \u201cto improve your communication skills\u201d and of how China had watched video of each opponent and how, helpfully against North Korea, \u201cWe trained to play against the different styles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Question No. 6 went back to the Koreans, and mentioned having \u201cread online\u201d that they had trained in China and saying, \u201cCould you tell us more?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe can learn a lot from them,\u201d Kim said, \u201cand we prepared a lot for the Olympics, so we have somewhat of a tie with Chinese team, which is the world\u2019s best. Of course it wasn\u2019t enough at the end. We did a good performance, but there\u2019s some regret and we learned a lot from them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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