North and South Korea Olympic table tennis face-off
Timo Boll of Germany during the men’s final at the 2010 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Moscow on May 30, 2010.
It’s on.
Bitter rivals North Korea and South Korea will face each other in the first round of the London 2012 Olympics men’s table tennis tournament, according to Reuters.
These two countries take their table tennis very seriously — although, not as seriously as China. South Korea is the second most successful country in Olympic table tennis, while North Korea is the fifth. China has dominated the field, winning 20 out of 24 gold medals, according to the official Olympic website. Table tennis became an Olympic sport in 1988.
A total of 172 table tennis athletes will compete this year. Singles events begin on July 28. The women's finals will start on August 7, and the men's finals will kick off August 8.
One can only pray, beg, entreat, petition, beseech, and supplicate to the Olympic gods that the North and South Korea table tennis match will be something like this: