Koreas 'close' to fielding joint Asiad team

Koreas 'close' to fielding joint Asiad team

Agence France-Presse, Seoul

South and North Korean sports chiefs have reached a provisional agreement to field unified teams for next year's Asian Games in Qatar, reports said on Thursday.

The agreement was reached between South Korean Olympic Committee head Kim Jung-Kil and his North Korean counterpart Mun Jae-Dok at talks arranged by the Olympic Council of Asia in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, Yonhap news agency said.

Kim and Mun agreed "in principle" to form unified teams for the 2006 Asiad and a joint soccer team for friendly matches with Brazil next spring, it said.

"For next year's Asian Games, we will try to field joint squads for ball games because forming a completely unified team may cause various problems," Kim was quoted as saying.

The Koreas fielded unified teams for the World Table Tennis Championships and an international youth football competition, both in 1991. They also have marched together five times in Olympic opening and closing ceremonies.

In separate talks with Kim Jin-Sun, governor of South Korea's Gangwon province, Mun promised to help Pyeongchang in its bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics, Yonhap said.

Pyeongchang, a ski resort in the province, narrowly lost its bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics to Vancouver, Canada. It is now competing with Austria's Salzburg and five other cities to host the 2014 Games.