Sun, Aug 19, 2018 page11

• Asian Games: Sweet sixteen for N Korea’s soccer women

  • AFP, JAKARTA
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  It was a scoreline so audacious even former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il would have blushed.

  North Korea’s women’s soccer team on Friday thrashed Tajikistan 16-0 at the Asian Games, a merciless demolition that saw three players score hat-tricks.

  Unlike Kim’s legendary first-ever round of golf — in which he claimed to hit 11 holes-in-one — the players’ achievement is recorded in the official record books.

  

  A North Korean delegation to the Asian Games poses during a ceremony to enter the athletes’ village in Jakarta on Thursday.

  Photo: EPA

  North Korea’s women, whose win equaled the tournament record, have long been elite-level international performers.

  Pyongyang has invested in sporting success, opening an elite soccer academy for young boys and girls five years ago, as well as a top-class ski resort.

  The women’s success has far outstripped their male counterparts, including three Asian Games gold medals, three Asian Cups and the last under-17 and under-20 World Cups.

  North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to have taken particular interest in women’s soccer, reportedly visiting the team in training before the last Asian Games to offer “valuable instruction on how to win the gold medal.”

  They went on to win the tournament.

  The following year, he hugged returning members of the victorious East Asian Cup campaign at Pyongyang International Airport, praising their “guerrilla-style” tactics and “indefatigable mental prowess,” the Korean Central News Agency reported.

  However, things have not always been so straightforward for the North’s female soccer players.

  They were banned from the 2015 Women’s World Cup after five players failed drug tests at the previous edition in 2011.

  The team doctor at the time blamed the test results on a “Chinese remedy” made from musk deer glands to treat players who had been struck by lightning.

  International sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear weapons program continue to hamper financing for the nation’s soccer ambitions, such as sending stars to top European clubs.

  The team will also miss out on next year’s World Cup in France after being narrowly edged out in early qualifying by South Korea.

  Even so, the North’s women continue to leave their male counterparts in their wake.

  North Korea’s men’s team coach Ju Soyg-il on Friday apologized for his “nervous” players after a heavy defeat to Iran left his side on the brink of an early exit.

  The 3-0 loss means the men’s team need a win in their final match to have a chance of avoiding group-stage elimination — just four years after they reached the final.

  “We have to find the reasons why we lost the matches. One reason is that many of the players may be nervous,” Ju told reporters after the match. “The players were psychologically down.”

  Ju also blamed referee decisions for his team’s loss — North Korea had a player sent off and conceded a penalty in a fiery second half — but pledged to “learn lessons” from the setbacks.

  It leaves North Korea’s men needing to beat Saudi Arabia and rely on results elsewhere to progress.

  Unsurprisingly, the women’s team top their group — albeit on goal difference over China, who only overcame Hong Kong 7-0.
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