sports

An 89-year-old man cut a conspicuous figure at the autumn sports contest of aged persons-2026 recently held in Pyongyang. 

The spectators were amazed to see his movements, including accurate and quick returns and relaxed postures, which were incredibly vigorous for an old man nearing ninety.

He is Kim Tok Su living in Rangnang District, Pyongyang.

He has been participating in the sports competitions for amateurs and aged persons for more than a decade and, in the course of this, won several prizes for popularity and fortitude.

He was awarded a special prize in the recent competition.

The retired photographer took up table-tennis in his forties.

While learning the sport, he realized that it has a close association with his professional senses like moment capture and correct decision-making. So he became more enthusiastic about it and acquired remarkable skills in just a few months.

Even after his retirement, he has never stopped playing table tennis.

He said that it is important to live optimistically in order to remain healthy.

Being passionate, optimistic and cheerful, he always maintains a pleasant mood through a colourful emotional life and friendly interactions with people. Playing table tennis and participating in competitions every year is part of his effort to this end, he said.

He said that all these would have been impossible if it were not for the good social system, adding that longevity does not run in his family.

According to him, his father, who suffered all kinds of grinding toil during the Japanese imperialists’ military occupation before Korea’s liberation, died young of an illness and his mother also suffered from a serious illness before liberation. But she lived to the age of nearly 70 under the socialist system which regards human life as the most precious, he said, adding he is still living with a youthful vigour.