North Korea's Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong© AFP
North Korea said they could learn from China after winning their first Olympic medal in eight years on Tuesday in Paris, settling for silver after a mixed-doubles defeat to the table tennis superpower. China arrived in Paris as the world's undisputed table tennis kings, having won 32 of the 37 available golds since it became an Olympic sport.
They failed to claim the mixed doubles title when it was introduced three years ago in Tokyo but Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha set the record straight with an 11-6, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5, 7-11, 11-8 win over North Korea's Ri Jong Sik and Kim Kum Yong.
It was the first gold of what China hope will be a clean sweep of table tennis in the French capital. For North Korea, they skipped the pandemic-postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021 over coronavirus concerns.
Kim said she and Ri had trained with the Chinese team to prepare for Paris and vowed to come back stronger. "We had some time with the Chinese team, which is the world's best," said the 22-year-old.
"Of course it wasn't enough in the end. We had a good performance but there are some regrets. We learned a lot from them."
Ri and Kim were on the medals podium with the South Korean duo Lim Jong-hoon and Shin Yu-bin, who won bronze. When asked if they saw the South Korean pair as their rivals, Kim and Ri both shook their heads.
Kim said they had not yet been able to speak to their family to tell them about the match. "We hope to do better next time and win the gold," she said.
Unknown quantity
Wang and Sun have not lost outside China for four years and they are the world's number one-ranked pair. They had overwhelming support from the red-clad fans inside the standing room-only South Paris Arena, cheering and chanting throughout the match.
But Sun admitted that the element of the unknown made it difficult to face the North Korean pair. "It's quite rare to have a North Korean pair in international competition," she said.
"We had never played them before. They have strengths and they have been able to beat a lot of opponents. They have a distinctive style," she added.
Wang and Sun took control by winning the first game, but North Korea battled back to even things up. China took the next two games to put themselves on the brink of gold but North Korea again pulled one back to stay in the match.
The Chinese pair closed out the match after a nervy ending, and Sun said losing the inaugural Olympic mixed doubles final to Japan in Tokyo had fuelled their fire. "All of us were so devoted, we invested a lot," she said.
"Every match we had certain difficulties but we backed each other up and we got to the final and beat such a good team."