North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success.
They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3.
It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September.
Photo: AFP
Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the plane approached the arrivals gate.
Beaming players and their families celebrated together, with one mother — wearing a hanbok, a traditional Korean dress — telling her soccer-playing daughter: “You worked so hard.”
“It was the desire and honor of our team to give the respected fatherly Marshal Kim Jong-un the report of pleasure and victory,” said Jon Il-chong, who won the Golden Ball for best player at the U17 World Cup.
Photo: AFP
“I will train harder and harder in the future so that I will demonstrate the honor of North Korea throughout the world,” added Jon, who scored the vital 66th-minute equalizer against Spain that took the game to penalties.
Thanking the ruling Kim family and using sports achievements as a means to raise the national profile is a tradition for North Korean athletes and their families after notable victories.
“I will continue to fulfil my responsibility as a mother to make my daughter a world-class soccer player and wave the national flag in the sky in triumph,” Jon’s mother, Kim Yong-sil, told reporters.
Photo: AFP
The victorious squad rode in the back of an open truck decorated with flowers and painted with the North Korean flag through the city as they waved to people on the streets. Some people approached the vehicle to shake hands, with some men in military uniform saluting as the players passed.
While the men’s soccer team are ranked at 111th in the world, their female counterparts have won two youth World Cups in two months.
State media proclaimed that the country’s teenage players were “the attention of football experts, fans and spectators across the world” after the U17 triumph.
North Korea have qualified for the Women’s World Cup four times, reaching the quarter-finals in 2007. They are ranked ninth in the world.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Belgian partner Elise Mertens on Monday notched up their first win in the doubles group stage of the WTA Finals in Riyadh to keep their semi-final hopes alive, while Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russian partner Veronika Kudermetova were aiming to record their first victory after press time last night. Third seeds Hsieh and Mertens came back from a disheartening opening-day loss to Australia’s Ellen Perez and Nicole Melichar-Martinez to defeat top seeds Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the women’s doubles world No. 3 and 4 respectively. The 6-1, 6-3 victory at King Saud University Indoor Arena
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
Atalanta BC brought Serie A leaders SSC Napoli down to earth with a bump with a 3-0 victory on Sunday as Ademola Lookman grabbed two goals. Napoli were hoping to open up a substantial lead at the top before, but Atalanta stunned the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium as they decisively ended the home side’s unbeaten run that stretched back to Aug. 18. Inter then closed the gap with a 1-0 victory over Venezia to end the weekend just a point behind Napoli. Lookman pounced first in the 10th minute when Marten de Roon’s header fell for the London-born Nigerian international