181 Riyadh World Games-Mixed Team
◎The heart is smaller than the needle's eye◎
Zhu Qi originally thought it was just a simple quarrel and argument.
After all, every time the North Korean team participated in world competitions, they never gave the South Korean team any respect.
There was even a competition before where both North and South Korea stood on the podium, but Xi Lingen refused to shake hands with South Korea's Ahn Ji-hye.
There was a commotion in the infirmary. Zhu Qi pulled Ah Shui out and asked, "What's going on?"
"I don't know. I just happened to pass by when I was looking for Maomao. It seems that the staff of both sides even got into a fight..."
Zhu Qi was shocked. "No way? The World Games will take action? Aren't they afraid of being disqualified?"
"I saw Jin Lili trying to stop them, but she couldn't. I don't know if it was the coach or the players who started it, but it was essentially just the men pushing each other a couple of times. It's said that the South Korean team felt the North Koreans were being rude, and since they'd lost the game, they got a little angry and started yelling. The North Koreans certainly wouldn't say anything nice, and since the two sides speak similar languages, a fight ensued. It's said that the North Koreans started it..."
Zhu Qi was a little surprised.
She has always had a good impression of the North Korean team. She feels that people in the north are more reserved, speak politely, and are easy-going in their dealings with others.
Although he may put on a cold face when meeting the US, Japan and South Korea, he is definitely not the type to actively seek trouble.
Zhu Qi guessed that the South Korean team might have said something treasonous and insulting to North Korea.
This matter has become a bit of a big deal.
After all, one of these two teams will play in the finals tomorrow, and the other will play in the bronze medal match.
The organizers also feel a bit troubled. They can't just ban them at this juncture, right?
This means there won't be a final or bronze medal match tomorrow; the Chinese and Hong Kong teams can simply go on stage to receive their awards. Oh, and there's still a vacant silver medal area.
The Saudi organizers have never encountered such a thing.
Many teams dislike each other due to some historical issues, but at the time of such a sporting event, they will more or less give each other some face.
This was the first time a physical conflict occurred after a game.
Some people suggest that such matters should be resolved by making a big deal out of a small matter.
It would be best if it could be resolved internally.
Anyway, there is only one day left for the table tennis event, so let it go no matter what. If there are any conflicts with other organizers in the future, it will have nothing to do with them.
However, due to the language barrier, the North Korean team basically cannot speak English except for one translator.
The Saudi organizers could only try to find a peacemaker.
The peacemaker also had to convince both sides that he was listening. After much deliberation, they felt that only the Chinese team was the most suitable.
However, the head coach of the Chinese team, Ren Xinhua, was not there, and the two coaches of the men's and women's teams were busy taking care of the injuries of their own players, so they had no time to care about the right and wrong of the North Korean and South Korean teams.
Listen to the organizer's message.
The whole thing happened because after the South Korean team lost to the North Korean team, everyone was in a bad mood, and when they were about to leave the field, they happened to run into the North Korean team head-on.
No one on either side wanted to give way, so they were stuck there.
Then someone from the South Korean team said, "You rude guys!", and the North Korean team responded with a North Korean proverb, "A wild dog must give way to a lion," mocking the South Korean team as a defeated army.
Then the two sides started arguing.
In particular, there is a North Korean defector named Ahn Ji-hye in the South Korean team, who has always been the main target of ridicule by the North Korean team.
An Zhihui's identity is also very unusual. According to Jin Lili, when An Zhihui was in the North, her parents were high school teachers. Later, due to the famine in North Korea, they could no longer make ends meet, so they fled to South Korea with their family.
Coincidentally, An Zhihui was a regional athlete in North Korea before, so she was Xi Lingen's junior sister. After escaping to South Korea, she represented the South Korean team in the competition.
Moreover, Jin Lili had previously discussed this as gossip with Zhu Qi and others. In order to find more recognition in South Korea, An Zhihui often criticized some of the North's policies and leaders in public.
In the eyes of the Koreans, this was a crime worthy of being tortured to death by slicing. Zhu Qi even felt that the Koreans were quite restrained, at least they did not curse the other party's ancestors for eighteen generations.
Ah Shui was sitting on the ground stretching, bent over with his face against his knees, and asked curiously, "An Zhihui and Xi Ling'en often meet in competitions. I don't remember An Zhihui ever beating Xi Ling'en, right? It's just like Yuanxiang and Baobao back then... Well, if you lose, you lose. If you can't beat them, you can't beat them. Why do you have to confront them? If you have the guts, let's face it on the court—"
Ah Shui is right.
But South Korea is just a tiny country.
His heart is smaller than a needle's eye.
How can you understand this truth?
Zhu Qi could even guess what the South Korean team was thinking.
Although North Korea was founded on a US military base, it is now forced to close itself off from foreign trade, and hundreds of thousands of people reportedly died of starvation in the 1990s. Its per capita GDP is far lower than South Korea's. While it may not be able to beat North Korea in table tennis, South Korea's overall national strength suggests that its recent development makes it a major power. It's unreasonable for it to be bullied by a small country that can't even get enough food.
So the Chinese team often beats the Korean team, but I have never seen the Korean team dare to challenge the Chinese team like this.
To put it bluntly, it depends on the person.
When the South Korean team started cursing, they probably didn't expect the North Korean team to be so tough and dare to talk back.
Then things got out of hand.
"Hey." Zuo Zuo, who was listening nearby, also started to join in the conversation. "It's really strange. Logically speaking, these two groups should belong to the same ethnic group with the same origin, right? Why is there such a big gap?"
"If you don't gain power through righteousness, disaster will surely follow." Maomao said something Zhu Qi agreed with. She looked at the little sisters and began to teach them a lesson. "No matter what you do, you must always have a clear conscience. Otherwise, even if you gain some benefits in the future, you will quickly lose them in other ways."
In fact, Zhu Qi felt that this sentence was particularly applicable to Jin Lili.
Kim Lili won a bronze medal in women's doubles at this World Games, which is also the only medal for the South Korean team in the table tennis group.
No matter what, it's at least a chance to show my face.
Jin Lili had some minor flaws in her playing before and couldn't get many cards, but after correcting those minor flaws, her skills improved by leaps and bounds in the past two years, and she went directly from the second tier to the 1.5 tier.
After waking up from a nap, Zhu Qi felt much more comfortable, his mind was clearer, and he no longer felt dizzy. Although he was still a little weak after the fever, he ate three eggs and a large piece of boiled beef in the morning to replenish his energy.
North Korean medicinal herbs are indeed effective. She felt that the North Korean team had helped her so many times, and she had to repay the favor no matter what.
Maomao originally wanted to go, but the team doctor was giving her a massage and she couldn't leave.
Ah Shui was also very curious and wanted to follow Zhu Qi to take a look, but was pulled back by Chang Hongxia: "What are you going to see? Aren't you going to train? Aren't you going to play in the game tomorrow?"
Zhu Qi put on his coat and followed the staff to see what was going on.
Maomao shouted towards the door: "Don't go into the vent——"
Zhu Qi responded, knowing that Maomao's words had two meanings.
One was to let Zhu Qi go over and talk, to sort things out, but not to put himself in the line of fire. The other was to let Zhu Qi recover from his fever just in time, so he wouldn't get a cold standing under the air conditioner.
When Zhu Qi arrived, the two teams had been separated by the organizers and were sitting in two rooms.
At this time, the South Korean and North Korean teams suddenly reached a consensus.
That is, you must ask the other party to apologize to you, otherwise the matter will not be over.
It seems like the worst that can happen is that we can just not play the game tomorrow.
The South Korean team doesn't care.
After all, they are participating in the bronze medal match tomorrow, and they may not be able to beat the Hong Kong team.
If North Korea can't even reach the finals because of this, South Korea will be going crazy. A bronze medal, a silver medal... well, maybe even a gold medal, anyway, North Korea will be the worse off.
That’s right!
The Korean coach yelled, "These country bumpkins must apologize!"
Jin Lili sat in the crowd, folding her arms and looking gloomy.
After all, she has played for the South Korean team for eight years, and she is the person who has won the most honors in the South Korean team. She has more say in the South Korean team.
When Zhu Qi walked over, he ignored the Korean coach and called Jin Lili out. The two met at the door.
Ever since the Han Taiyang incident, Jin Lili no longer had any sense of belonging to the South Korean team. She simply regarded playing for the South Korean team as a job, and the relationship between the two teams was one of mutual employment, unlike the Chinese team and the North Korean team, where there was no sense of collective honor.
Jin Lili started by scolding the South Korean team: "I'm so annoyed, these guys. They don't think they can win tomorrow's bronze medal match, so it doesn't matter whether the Hong Kong team plays or not, but I still want to play!"
She is only one year younger than Maomao.
I am 28 years old this year, and I may not have the opportunity to play in the next World Games.
Naturally, there are fewer and fewer games to play.
"If this gets out of hand and the ITTF gets their attention, it's going to be bad for everyone," Zhu Qi added. "It was just a verbal dispute, a couple of shoves, no real fistfights. Even if they think they can't win tomorrow's match against the Hong Kong team, will they not play in future matches? There's a Gwangju tournament in December at the end of this year. As the saying goes, they're being rude first, after all, it was the Korean team that started the insults. If this gets to other table tennis teams, it'll have a bad impact on the Korean team, too. They might even boycott the Gwangju tournament..."
Many of Zhu Qi's remarks actually mocked the South Korean team, but at present they were actually the most neutral remarks, and Jin Lili also understood this.
But after eight years in the Korean team, Jin Lili knew that these Koreans were all very concerned about their reputation. Judging from their attitude, it was unlikely that just two or three words would calm them down.
After much deliberation, Jin Lili said to Zhu Qi, "I'll go in and talk to our coach first. You can come back in 10 minutes."
"What should I say after we go in?" Zhu Qi asked her.
"Just say what you usually say." Jin Lili wanted to laugh when she thought about what she was going to say, and winked at Zhu Qi. "You're the best at making people angry."
Zhu Qi smiled helplessly and said, "Okay."
【Author’s words】
My period was really painful today [burst into tears], so the number of words is a bit short. I'll take it easy tomorrow and write more. The hardest game is already over. The game against North Korea won't take as many chapters.
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