LAHORE: The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has announced that North Korea and South Korea will field joint teams in three sports and six events at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia in August this year. Following a four-party meeting at the headquarters of organising committee INASGOC on Thursday in Jakarta, Indonesia, the OCA said that the two National Olympic Committees would compete as a unified team in basketball, dragon boat racing and rowing. “The six events will be: women’s basketball (5×5), men’s and women’s dragon boat, which is a discipline of canoe-kayak in the sports programme, and rowing: LM4- (men), LM8+ (men) and LW2X (women). The size of the joint teams will not exceed the athlete quota that applies to all other National Olympic Committees,” said a spokesman for the OCA in a statement. The OCA welcomed the joint participation of Korea and DPR Korea in the three sports. “This will be an historic Asian Games for the Olympic Council of Asia and for the continent because it will be the first time that North Korea and South Korea will form a unified team in certain sports,” said the OCA’s Director of International and National Olympic Committee Relations, Vinod Kumar Tiwari. “They have marched together before in the Opening Ceremony and we are delighted that they are extending their joint cooperation further in the spirit of unity and friendship. We would like to thank the two National Olympic Committees from South Korea and North Korea for coming to Jakarta and putting forward their proposals on the joint teams. We would also like to thank INASGOC for their support.” Although the final deadline for National Olympic Committees to submit their “Entry by Name” is June 30, the deadline for the joint teams will be extended to July 10. The 18th Asian Games will run from August 18 to September 2 in Jakarta and Palembang, capital of South Sumatra province, with 40 sports, 67 disciplines and 463 events. About 10,000 athletes from 45 countries and regions will take part. Women’s basketball will take place at the Gelora Bung Karno sports complex in Senayan, Jakarta, and the dragon boat and rowing will be in Palembang. It was also decided that the joint delegation will be represented by 200 athletes and officials in the Opening Ceremony parade, with 100 coming from each side. The three-strong delegation from Pyongyang was led by the DPR Korea NOC Vice President, Mr Won Kil U, and the four representatives from Seoul were led by Mr Choong R. Jeon, Secretary General of the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee. INASGOC was represented by Lt. Gen (r) Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, Vice President. Published in Daily Times, June 29th 2018.