From the section
A selection of some of the most striking sports photographs taken around the world this week:
Huez, France, 13 June: Cyclists of the AG2R team ride towards Alpe d'Huez's summit as part of their preparation for the Tour de France. (Photo by Jean-Pierre Clatot / AFP / Getty Images)
Nottingham, England, 12 June: Crowds look on as British number two Heather Watson begins her first-round match at the Nature Valley Open in Nottingham. (Photo by Ben Hoskins/Getty Images for LTA)
Samara, Russia, 17 June: Serbia captain Aleksandar Kolarov scores a delightful free-kick past Costa Rica's Keylor Navas to give his country victory in their opening World Cup match. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
Gothenburg, Sweden, 14 June: Team Brunel pass under the Alvsborg Bridge after winning the the penultimate leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. (Photo by Adam Ihse / AFP / Getty Images)
Ennis, Ireland, 17 June: Seamus Flanagan knocks the hurley (stick) out of Conor Cleary's hand, during the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship match between Clare and Limerick. (Photo By Ray McManus/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
Chicago, United States, 11 June : Yonder Alonso of the Cleveland Indians reacts with despair as he hits a foul ball in the seventh inning of the game against the Chicago White Sox. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
Michigan, United States, 14 June: Michelle Wie looks on after hitting her tee shot on the third hole during the first round of the Meijer LPGA Classic. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
California, United States, 11 June: A surfer rides a wave off Huntington Beach, despite a high surf advisory being issued across Southern California beaches. (Photo by Paul Bersebach/Orange County Register via Getty Images)
Tokyo, Japan, 15 June: Wrestlers compete in the first round of the 125 kg men's freestyle at the All Japan Wrestling Invitational Championships. (Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images)
Somalia, Africa, 14 June: School kids train at the 'All Stars Sports Academy' in preparation for the first football summer camp tournament in Hargeisa in July. (Photo by Hussein Hassan)
See some of the best news pictures from the week.
All photographs are subject to copyright.
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SEOUL: North and South Korea have agreed to hold a joint basketball match in Pyongyang and to form some combined teams at August's Asian Games in Indonesia, the two countries announced on Monday (Jun 18), after a day of negotiations at their shared border.
The basketball match will take place on Jul 4, marking the anniversary of an inter-Korean agreement on unification, they said in a joint statement. Another match will be held in Seoul later in the year.
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The athletes from the two sides will march together under a unified peninsula flag and the country name "Korea" during the opening and closing ceremony of the Asian Games, as they did in the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February.
They also agreed to create combined teams for the upcoming games and for other international competitions, and will hold more discussions to work out details.
"We will try to materialise the spirit and principles agreed between high-level officials of South and North Korea with the belief that sports can act as a guide for better inter-Korean exchanges," said Mr Jeon Choong-ryul, secretary general of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, according to Yonhap.
"As we all witnessed during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, sports gave a chance to initiate better inter-Korean relations," he added.
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The agreement comes as the two Koreas hold multiple talks to discuss deepening their ties.
The two Koreas will hold Red Cross talks at Mount Kumgang on Friday, Yonhap reported. The discussions Friday will focus on the reunions of families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War. The two Koreas agreed in a historic summit on Apr 27 to reunite separated families on Aug 15, which they mark annually to commemorate liberation from Japanese rule.
During Friday's meet, the two Koreas are expected to fine-tune details of the date and the scale of the family reunions while seeking more solutions to the humanitarian issue of divided families, Yonhap added.
North and South Korea formed their first-ever unified Olympic team - a joint women's ice hockey squad - for the 2018 Winter Games.
The idea for a joint team at Pyeongchang Olympics initially sparked backlash in the South, on the grounds that Seoul was depriving its own athletes of the chance to compete on the Olympic stage.
Ultimately, the sight of North and South Korean players wearing the same jerseys drew emotive responses from spectators and the squad quickly became an Olympic favourite, despite being thrashed all their matches.
The rapprochement on the Korean Peninsula was triggered earlier this year when Kim decided to send athletes, cheerleaders and his sister as an envoy to the Pyeongchang Games.
Diplomatic efforts have gathered pace since, leading to a landmark summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Singapore last week.
