South Korea's women's table tennis team has hired a former Chinese national team coach to prepare for the upcoming Asian Games, the sport's national governing body said Friday.

The Korea Table Tennis Association said Zhong Jinyong will coach South Korean women players through the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. After the women's team struggled in recent international competitions including the Rio de Janeiro Olympics the KTTA said it was looking to hire a Chinese coach to raise the competitiveness of the female players.

Zhong will be the first Chinese person to teach the South Korean women's team since 1998. He will work with An Jae-hyung, head coach of the South Korean women's table tennis team, who is also fluent in Chinese.

Zhong has coached several competitive Chinese table tennis players in his career including world No. 1 Ma Long, Zhang Jike and Xu Xin. (Yonhap)