46^th World Table Tennis Championships

Osaka, Japan · April 23 - May 6, 2001

“That’s Our Country!”

By Tim Boggan, ITTF and USATT Media

As the incredible Men’s Team semi’s between China and South Korea is winding down to its climactic 5^th-match, deuce-in-the-fifth ending between Liu Guozheng and Kim Taek Soo, U.S. umpire Tom Miller is watching in the wings with the North Korean Women’s Team prepatory to their title match with China that Tom will be umpiring after the conclusion of the Men’s semi’s.

Tom said that as he approvingly observed the enthusiastic reaction of these North Korean women to Kim Taek Soo’s play--their squeals and gasps, their animated jumps and gestures—he was suddenly aware that the North Korean coach had come up close to him and was whispering excitedly in his ear, “That’s our country out there!”

This, Tom told me, moved him more than anything he’d yet seen or heard at these Championships.

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