| Players from Danwon High School girls' table tennis team who won the national championship showed their emotional outburst when being awarded. The school's second-year students are major victims of the 'Sewol' ferry tragedy. / Courtesy of JTBC |
By Ko Dong-hwan
A sad drama swept a table tennis competition Thursday, as Danwon High School, struggling to recover from the "Sewol" ferry tragedy since Wednesday, grabbed a winning trophy, Munhwa Ilbo said Thursday.
The girl's team, including three second-year students, Park Se-ri, Ahn Yeong-eun and Kim Min-jeong, was in the middle of the 60th national table tennis championship when the accident occurred. The three students had given up on the school trip to participate in the championship.
The team won a semi-final match against Anyang Girl's High School by 3-2 on Tuesday. It was the next day morning that they found out their classmates and rest of the second year students from their school were knocked off inside a capsized ferry.
With their final match scheduled Thursday, the dumbfounded athletes couldn't brace themselves to wade through another game, with their home school shattered by the accident creeping inside their minds. According to the report, they considered forfeiting the final match.
It was their coach who persuaded them to finish the championship and present the winning trophy to their peers. And they did. Against Daesong High School from Ulsan, the girls won by 3-1.
But they couldn't relish the sweet victory. The girls were witnessed to have cried while accepting the trophy, presumably feeling the mixture of pride and sorry for all who could have been enjoying their Jeju trip if it weren't for the accident.
Korean Language
단원고 女탁구, 눈물의 우승
진도 여객선 세월호 침몰 사고를 당한 안산 단원고 여자 탁구팀이 우승에도 불구하고 슬픔의 눈물을 쏟아냈다.
지난 17일 안산 단원고 여자 탁구팀은 제 60회 전국종별탁구선수권대회 여자 단체전 결승에서 울산 대송고를 3대1로 꺾고 우승을 차지했다.
이번 대회 안산 단원고 여자 탁구팀 선수 중에는 수학여행 대상이었던 2학년 학생도 3명 포함됐고, 이들은 대회참가를 위해 수학여행을 포기한 것으로 알려졌다.
전날 준결승에서 안양여고에 3대2로 승리한 안산 단원고 선수들은 경기 후 진도 여객선 세월호 침몰 사고 소식에 충격을 받아 대회를 포기할까 고려한 것으로 전해졌다. 하지만 “학우들에게 우승컵을 안겨주자”는 코치의 설득에 결승전을 치루고 결국 눈물의 우승컵을 들어 올렸다.