N. Korean sports minister agrees to train Russian athletes in table tennis
VLADIVOSTOK. March 22 (Interfax) - Russian Far East Development Minister Alexander Galushka has asked North Korean Sports Minister Kim Il Guk to send experienced table tennis coaches to Russia to bolster Russian athletes' skills, the Far East Development Ministry press service said.
A possibility of building a national Far Eastern table tennis center on Sakhalin is being considered under a program of creating new sports facilities and developing various sports in Russia's Far East, Galushka said at a meeting with Kim Il Guk.
"Our purpose is to create a totally new center of development of this sport in the eastern part of our country. It will create a new quality of the national team over ten years," the press service quoted Galushka as saying.
"We know that you have good traditions of the Korean table tennis school, your athletes have many times won prizes in various international competitions. And we want to use your experience in the training of our athletes," Galushka said.
Kim Il Guk backed the idea of creating the center and said that the Korean side is ready to assist in the training of athletes, specifically, by sending coaches and hosting Russian coaches and athletes to exchange experience.