sports

National open paduk contest held

A national open paduk contest took place in Phyongsong City, South Phyongan Province, amid the great expectations and interest of amateurs and experts.

The contest, which was divided into children’s, schoolchildren’s, amateurs’ and open categories, brought together more than 530 players from all parts of the country and they competed in several events including individual, doubles and team events.

The games of each category were fierce from the beginning.

The team of Pyongyang Municipality led others in the tally of medals.

But South Phyongan, North Phyongan, Kangwon and South Hamgyong provinces ranked the same, so the matches were more intense.

The South Hamgyong Provincial Team led the three other teams by obtaining a gold medal first, but all the three teams earned one gold medal respectively in the next matches to stand on the same ranking again.

Their team standings were decided by the results of the games in six events of the open category.

In the open category, the Pyongyang Municipality Team won five gold medals to assure its victory, with the South Hamgyong Provincial Team receiving two gold medals to finish runner-up.

In the contest which took place with 43 gold medals Pyongyang Municipality got 27 of them and was placed first in the total rankings, followed by South Hamgyong and South Phyongan provinces.

Hwaeppul Cup soccer tournament ends

Both men and women players of the Amnokgang Team snatched victory in the Hwaeppul (Torch) Cup football tournament.

The men’s team made strenuous efforts to preserve its original character, though it faced new difficulties caused by a series of changes in the team composition every year.

As a result, experts and fans still consider the Amnokgang Team as a considerably strong team.

In the recent Hwaeppul Cup soccer tournament, too, the Amnokgang Team beat the Pyongyang Team which cruised to the final 1-0 by fully displaying its physical, technical and tactical abilities and lifted the trophy for the third time after 2023 and 2025.

The April 25 Team raised the cup two times in the Hwaeppul Cup soccer tournament (women’s) which began from 2023 and the Sobaeksu Team won it last year.

The female Amnokgang players won the fourth Hwaeppul Cup tournament amid different predictions of experts and fans.

The Amnokgang Team (women) emerged as a new winner of the Hwaeppul Cup, after the April 25 and Sobaeksu teams.