1991 World Table Tennis Championships
# 1991 World Table Tennis Championships

The 1991 World Table Tennis Championships were held in Chiba from April 24 to May 6, 1991.

North Korea and South Korea fielded a unified team under the name Korea (コリア Koria), the first of all Unified Korean sporting teams. The women's Korean team captured the gold medal by topping China, winners of eight consecutive titles since 1975, 3–2 in the final.

## Results

### Team

| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| - | - | - | - |
| Swaythling Cup Men's Team | Sweden Mikael Appelgren Peter Karlsson Erik Lindh Jörgen Persson Jan-Ove Waldner | Yugoslavia Zoran Kalinić Ilija Lupulesku Zoran Primorac Robert Smrekar | Czechoslovakia Milan Grman Tomáš Janči Petr Javurek Petr Korbel Roland Vimi |
| Corbillon Cup Women's Team | Korea Hong Cha-ok Hyun Jung-hwa Li Bun-hui Yu Sun-bok | China Chen Zihe Deng Yaping Gao Jun Qiao Hong | France Emmanuelle Coubat Sandrine Derrien Xiaoming Wang-Dréchou Agnès Le Lannic |

### Individual

| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
| - | - | - | - |
| Men's singles | Jörgen Persson | Jan-Ove Waldner | Kim Taek-Soo |
| Men's singles | Jörgen Persson | Jan-Ove Waldner | Ma Wenge |
| Women's singles | Deng Yaping | Li Bun-Hui | Chan Tan Lui |
| Women's singles | Deng Yaping | Li Bun-Hui | Qiao Hong |
| Men's doubles | Peter Karlsson Thomas von Scheele | Lü Lin Wang Tao | Erik Lindh Jörgen Persson |
| Men's doubles | Peter Karlsson Thomas von Scheele | Lü Lin Wang Tao | Andrei Mazunov Dmitry Mazunov |
| Women's doubles | Chen Zihe Gao Jun | Deng Yaping Qiao Hong | Ding Yaping Li Jun |
| Women's doubles | Chen Zihe Gao Jun | Deng Yaping Qiao Hong | Hu Xiaoxin Liu Wei |
| Mixed doubles | Wang Tao Liu Wei | Xie Chaojie Chen Zihe | Kim Song-hui Li Bun-Hui |
| Mixed doubles | Wang Tao Liu Wei | Xie Chaojie Chen Zihe | Kalinikos Kreanga Otilia Bădescu |

## Unified team of Korea

Prior to the competition, North and South Korea discussed the possibility of the first unified football and table tennis teams since Korea's division. In February 1991, they agreed to the creation of the unified table tennis team to compete at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships. According to Chang Ung, International Olympic Committee member from North Korea, the decision took 22 rounds of talks between the Koreas and five months.

The team used "Korea" (Korean hangul: 코리아, McCune–Reischauer: K'oria, Revised Romanization: Koria, Japanese: コリア Koria) as the country name avoiding Hanguk (한국) or Chosŏn (조선). It also used the Korean Unification Flag as the national flag and Arirang as the national anthem. Upon defeating the supposedly "unbeatable" Chinese team, the women's team caused a big sensation in Korea.

A South Korean movie Korea (코리아) ("As one") was released on May 3, 2012, and describes the story of the women's team. Hyun Jung-Hwa was portrayed by Ha Ji-won and Li Bun-Hui by Bae Doona.

