SEOUL • A joint table tennis team from the two Koreas won the mixed doubles final at the Korea Open yesterday, claiming the first gold in the latest instalment of sporting diplomacy on the peninsula.

Jang Woo-jin, a male player from the South, and Cha Hyo Sim, a female player from the North, defeated China's Wang Chuqin and Sun Yinsha 3-1 in the tournament held in the South's city of Daejeon.

The Chinese duo won the first game 11-5 before losing the next three 11-3, 11-4, 11-8 as some South Korean fans chanted "we are one" in unison.

It was the first gold won by an inter-Korea sports team since a women's joint table tennis team scored a shock victory over reigning champions China at the 1991 World Championships in Japan.

"I really wanted to win this game... and the cheers from the crowd gave me goosebumps," Jang later said.

"I saw Hyo Sim crying during the ceremony and it broke my heart that we have to say goodbye soon."

All civilian communication between the two countries - which remain technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice instead of a peace treaty - is banned.

But North Korea's decision to participate in February's Winter Olympics in the South triggered an ongoing rapprochement between the two nations.

The two Koreas have often used sports to break the ice on volatile inter-Korea relations - by forming joint teams for international competitions from football to ice hockey.

Eight female and eight male table tennis players from the North, including Kim Song I (women's singles bronze medallist at the 2016 Rio Summer Games) competed in the Korea Open, some jointly with Seoul's players.

Four joint teams, men's and women's doubles as well as two mixed doubles, were formed. The men's doubles team won bronze on Friday.

Both nations also recently announced they would field joint teams in three sports - canoeing, rowing and women's basketball - at next month's Asian Games to be held in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE