Ai Fukuhara and Tomokazu Harimoto will take part in a mixed table tennis friendly later this month to promote dialogue between North and South Korea and their neighboring countries, the IOC announced Thursday.
Fukuhara, who won team silver at the 2012 London Games, and Harimoto, 14, who is the youngest player to claim an International Table Tennis Federation World Tour men's singles title, will take part in the friendly on Olympic Day, June 23, in Lausanne, Switzerland, along with top players from North and South Korea, and China.
Following talks with Kim Jong Un at which the North Korean leader committed to his country's athletes participating in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games and 2022 Beijing Winter Games, the IOC invited delegations from the two Koreas, China, and Japan to participate in the event aimed at promoting peace through sport.