Koreas consider forming joint wrestling team at Tokyo Olympics

North Korea's Kang Yong Gyun throws Andriy Kalashnikov of Ukraine to win the bronze medal in the 54 kg Greco-Roman wrestling event at the Sydney Olympic Games, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2000. Korea Times file

South and North Korea are considering forming a joint wrestling team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, Seoul's wrestling governing body said Saturday.

Korea Wrestling Federation (KWF) said its competition director, Lee Joong-sub, and the North Korean wrestling body secretary general, Kim Il, met Thursday in Budapest, where the 2018 World Wrestling Championships is being held, and exchanged opinions on forming a joint wrestling team at the 2020 Olympics.

"Although it's not confirmed that we're going to have a joint team, both sides have exchanged their ideas in a good atmosphere," a KWF offical said. "The two Koreas also touched on holding joint training in Seoul and Pyongyang."

According to the KWF, United World Wrestling President Nenad Lalovic also promised his support for the joint Korean team at the Olympics.

The two Koreas previously trained together during the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia this summer, but didn't compete as one team.

Expectations are high for the South and the North to have many joint teams at the next Olympics. Following the third inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang in September, the two Koreas announced in their joint declaration that they will seek ways to compete together in international sports competitions.

The KWF said it will have further discussions with North Korea on forming the joint wrestling team.

"South Korea is better in Greco-Roman wrestling than North Korea, but North Korea is stronger in freestyle wrestling," a KWF official said. "We believe that forming joint teams will help both sides upgrade their competitiveness."

But unlike other sports in which the two Koreas have had joint teams, wrestling doesn't have a team competition, meaning the officials will have a hard time dealing with Olympic quota issues and other entry problems.

"Since the UWW President vowed support, we expect to have a positive result," the KWF official said. (Yonhap)

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