I know there was a thread in here someplace that had some discussion on Ron's rankings, but can't find it now. So here's a link (again) to his rankings for the women's teams: http://home.sprynet.com/~ronkessler/currentw.htm Seeing North Korea ranked so high, it made me wonder - does anyone know of any english language site that provides information on the team, possibly including info on which players to watch, etc?
I have no idea, but I thought someone posted a link to a site that had news about the North Korean women's team.... Here is a story about their win at the Asian Games http://www.hankooki.com/kt_special/200210/t2002101120442140250.htm Just do a search on google, and I am sure you will find a few articles about the team...
Seeing North Korea ranked 6th also jumped out at me as well when I saw Ron's rankings last month. I wonder how North Korea's record compares to Sweden's over the past 2-3 years?
Re: Re: Ron's International Rankings & North Korea Check http://home.sprynet.com/~ronkessler/rsssfarc.htm
Ron, thanks for the link. North Korea's record is all the more impressive for the fact that they seldom get to play any international games in their country. http://home.sprynet.com/~ronkessler/NORTH_KW.HTM
North Korea has had some very good results over the past couple of years, but I think their ranking might be a bit too high considering how few matches they have played against quality opponents outside of Asia. With the current political climate over there I wouldn't expect that there are many countries that would be willing to play on North Korean soil. If North Korea does manage to qualify for WC 2003 as expected, it will be interesting to see how well they play. Based on recent results, I would expect that China would mind it at all if they could avoid playing North Korea. Some of the potential advantages that the North Koreans will have next year over the '99 WC is that by staying in Asia they won't have to travel nearly as far and then of course there will be a lot less culture shock playing in China than there was playing in the U.S.
Actually, there will be CONSIDERABLE culture shock playing in cities like Shanghai and Guangzhou. Anytime you go from a closed society to one as open as those two cities and there will be a shock. Besides, Chinese and Korean culture aren't as close as many people think it is.
Thanks for the additional information. Would you agree at all with my original point which was that it will be potentially advantagous for North Korea to not have to travel as far as they did during the '99 WC and that there will likely be less culture shock for them playing in China than there was for them playing in the U.S.? BTW - does anyone recall where the North Korean team was based during the '99 WC and which venues they played their matches at?