Aiming for 3 medals in men’s and women’s team events and mixed boxing between Shin Yu-bin and Lim Jong-hoon China and Japan must meet late Germany is on guard in Europe
‘Challenge for the first medal in 12 years!’
The 2024 Paris Olympics could be recorded as an important turning point in the history of Korean table tennis.
This is because the Paris Games are being held at a time when Korean table tennis, which had been in a slump since the 2010s, is finally showing signs of a clear rebound for both men and women.
There was a time when Korea was called China’s only rival in table tennis, a sport that China had dominated.
At the 1988 Seoul Games, where table tennis became an Olympic sport for the first time, Korea won two gold medals, led by the men’s singles pair of Yoo Nam-gyu (coach of the Korea Exchange) and the women’s doubles pair of Hyun Jung-hwa (coach of the Korea Racing Authority) and Yang Young-ja.
At the 2004 Athens Games, current Korea Table Tennis Association President Ryu Seung-min won the gold medal in the men’s singles.
Before Japan won the mixed doubles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the only non-Chinese countries to win gold medals in Olympic table tennis were the three won by South Korea.
However, Korean table tennis has not been able to raise the Taegeukgi at the Olympic awards ceremony since Oh Sang-eun (Mirae Asset Securities coach), Joo Se-hyuk (men’s national team coach), and Yoo Seung-min won a silver medal in the men’s team event at the 2012 London Games.
They were overtaken by Japan and pushed back by Europe, suffering the humiliation of not winning a medal for two consecutive times at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo Games.
Korean table tennis, which had been on the decline, is taking off again in the 2020s.
The men’s national team has become much more solid with Jang Woo-jin solidifying his role as the ‘ace’ and Lim Jong-hoon (Korea Exchange), who is good at both singles and doubles, growing stronger. 카지노사이트
Women’s table tennis, which had been struggling alone, has greatly improved its competitiveness in international competitions with the growth of Shin Yu-bin (Korean Air), who was gaining attention as a ‘prodigy’.
With these four players as the mainstays, Korean table tennis won a total of eight medals at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games held last year: one gold medal (women’s doubles), two silver medals (men’s team and men’s doubles), and five bronze medals (women’s team and two mixed doubles, women’s singles, and men’s singles).
It was the best performance since the 2002 Busan Games, when they won a total of eight medals, including two gold medals.
The skills of the ‘3rd option’ are also impeccable for both the men’s and women’s national teams.
Breaking expectations, 21-year-old ‘Young Gun’ Jo Dae-seong (Samsung Life Insurance), who was selected as the last member of the men’s national team, has the skills to be a ‘secret weapon’ in Paris.
Eunhye Lee (Korean Air), a member of the women’s national team, is in great form, winning all eight matches in the preliminary round to determine the final spot for the women’s national team.
The fact that both the men’s and women’s teams are strong in doubles makes the medal prospects even brighter.
There are no separate doubles medals in the Olympics, but the first match of the team event is played as a doubles match. A country that is strong in doubles is bound to have an advantage.
The pair of Jeon Ji-hee and Shin Yu-bin, who won the gold medal in the women’s doubles at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, are maintaining their second place in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) women’s doubles rankings.
The Jang Woo-jin-Lim Jong-hoon pair is the strongest Korean table tennis pairing in history, having won silver medals twice in a row at the 2021 World Championships in Houston and 2023 at the Durban World Championships.
The national team is expected to win a total of three medals, including the men’s and women’s team events and the mixed doubles event featuring Lim Jong-hoon and Shin Yu-bin. 토토사이트 추천