South and North Korea's joint teams are off to a great start at the 2018 International Table Tennis Korea Open.
South's Seo Hyo-won and North's Kim Song-i in the women's doubles have just won their first match this morning... after the two unified teams in the mixed doubles came through their first games on Tuesday night to move on to the next stage.
Kan Hyeong-woo tells us more.
Koreas' two joint teams in the mixed doubles have won their first matches to advance to the round of 16 at the 2018 International Table Tennis Federation Korea Open in South Korea's central city of Daejeon.
South Korea's Yoo Eun-chong and North Korea's Choe Il faced Alvaro Robles and Galia Dvorak of Spain on Tuesday night.
Having had only two days of practice together, the two Koreans were on the brink of elimination after they lost two of the first three sets.
But they dug deep to bounce back and take the fourth set to force a decisive fifth.
Yoo and Choe found themselves in a hole again,... down 9-7... but scored three unanswered points to take the lead... eventually winning the match 13-11.
"Quite honestly, I was overwhelmed when I hugged my partner Choe Il. I know it's not winning the tournament, but to me it was like winning the whole thing."
Another joint team in the mixed doubles, Jang Woo-jin and Cha Hyo-sim glided into the last 16 after their Mongolian opponents withdrew.
Yoo Eun-chong and Choe Il will take on South Korea's third-seeded duo Lee Sang-su and Jeon Ji-hee in Thursday's round of 16.
Jang Woo-jin and Cha Hyo-sim will face off against the second-seeds from Hong Kong.
Kan Hyeong-woo, Arirang News
