Sweet sixteen for North Korea’s women at Asiad

JAKARTA: North Korea’s women’s football team thrashed Tajikistan 16-0 at the Asian Games on Friday, a merciless demolition which saw three players score hat-tricks.

North Korea’s women, whose win equalled the tournament record, have long been elite-level international performers.

Pyongyang has invested in sporting success in recent times, opening an elite football academy for young boys and girls five years ago in the capital, as well as a top-class ski resort.

But the women’s success has far outstripped their male counterparts, including three Asian Games gold medals, three Asian Cups and the last under-17 and under-20 World Cups.

Current leader Kim Jong Un appears to have taken particular interest in women’s football, reportedly visiting the team in training before the last Asian Games to offer “valuable instruction on how to win the gold medal”. They went on to win the tournament.

The following year he hugged returning members of the victorious East Asian Cup campaign at Pyongyang airport, praising their “guerrilla-style” tactics and “indefatigable mental prowess”, according to state news agency KCNA.

But things have not always been so straightforward for the North’s female footballers.

They were banned from the 2015 Women’s World Cup after five players failed drugs tests at the previous edition in 2011.

The team doctor at the time blamed the test results on a “Chinese remedy” made from musk deer glands to treat players who had been struck by lightning.

And the team will miss out on next year’s World Cup in France after being narrowly edged out in early qualifying by neighbours South Korea.

Even so, the North’s women continue to leave their male counterparts in their wake.

North Korea’s men’s team coach Ju Soyg Il apologised Friday for his “nervous” players after a heavy defeat to Iran left his side on the brink of an early exit from the same tournament.

The 3-0 loss means the men’s team need a win in their final match to have a chance of avoiding group-stage elimination — just four years after they reached the final.

“We have to find the reasons why we lost the matches. One reason is that many of the players may be nervous,” an ashen-faced Ju told reporters after the match.

“The players were psychologically down.”

Ju also blamed referee decisions for his team’s loss Friday — North Korea had a player sent off and conceded a penalty in a fiery second half — but pledged to “learn lessons” from the setbacks.

It leaves North Korea’s men needing to beat Saudi Arabia and rely on results elsewhere to progress.

Unsurprisingly, the women’s team top their group — albeit on goal difference over China, who could only manage to overcome Hong Kong 7-0.