Hangzhou gold medal momentum to challenge for mixed doubles and women’s team ‘multi-medal’
Shin Yoo-bin’s Fireworks Drive
Shin Yu-Bin is the player most familiar to the public among the Korean national team participating in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In 2009, when he was only five years old, he appeared on the SBS entertainment program ‘Star King’ as a ‘table tennis prodigy’ and surprised the nation by having a close table tennis match with Korea Racing Authority coach Hyun Jung-hwa.
Shin Yu-bin, who first became known through TV, proved that the title of ‘prodigy’ is not an exaggeration by showing off her skills on the table.
In the third grade of elementary school, he became a hot topic by defeating a college student 4-0 in the comprehensive championship, the most prestigious competition in the country, and in the second grade of middle school, he teamed up with Jo Dae-seong (Samsung Life Insurance) to compete in the mixed doubles at the comprehensive championship and took second place.
In the national team selection tournament held ahead of the 2019 Asian Championships, he set a new record as the youngest national team member by wearing the Taegeuk mark at the age of 14 years, 11 months, and 16 days.
Shin Yu-bin showed even more rapid growth ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The women’s national team, which was pushed to the repechage tournament in the Olympic World Team Qualifying Tournament, dramatically advanced to the main tournament thanks to Shin Yu-bin’s outstanding performance in the final against France.
Although he did not win a medal in his first Olympics at the age of seventeen, he produced a great performance with his confident and aggressive play.
There were trials too.
Shin Yu-bin, who had been focusing too much on training after the Tokyo Olympics, suffered a stress fracture in her right wrist and was forced to withdraw from the World Table Tennis Championships in November 2021, her first appearance in the competition.
After returning to the table after half a year, the injury recurred, and Shin Yu-bin eventually underwent surgery to insert a pin into her wrist bone.
Shin Yu-bin, who overcame her injury, became stronger.
At the Durban World Championships in May last year, she became the first Korean player in 36 years to reach the women’s doubles final together with Jeon Ji-hee (Mirae Asset Securities) and won a silver medal. 슬롯사이트
Then, at the Hangzhou Asian Games, she teamed up with Jeon Ji-hee to win the women’s doubles title, bringing Korea’s first Asian Games gold medal in table tennis in 21 years.
In Paris, Shin Yu-bin will also be at the forefront of the national team’s medal challenge. She will challenge for ‘multiple medals’ in the women’s singles, women’s team event, and mixed doubles.
In the women’s team event, she will compete as a starting doubles pair with her ‘soul partner’ Jeon Ji-hee, and in the mixed doubles, she will team up with Lim Jong-hoon (Korea Exchange).
In particular, the national team has high expectations for mixed doubles.
Mixed doubles was first introduced at the Tokyo Olympics, but China’s dominance is relatively weaker than that of other events, with Japan beating China to win its first-ever gold medal in Tokyo.
The Korea Table Tennis Association has been focusing on mixed doubles as a strategic sport and has been training Shin Yu-bin and Lim Jong-hoon intensively for the past two years.
The pair of Shin Yu-bin and Lim Jong-hoon is ranked second in the world, behind China’s pair of Sun Yingsha and Wang Chuqin.
Since winning a silver medal in the men’s team event at the 2012 London Games, Korea’s table tennis team has not won a medal at the Olympics. They suffered the humiliation of not winning a medal in two consecutive games at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and the Tokyo Games.
Three years ago in Tokyo, Shin Yu-bin was called ‘Ppyak-i’. It was a nickname given to her by fans in affection for the 17-year-old Shin Yu-bin’s screams she would make in front of the table.
Now, at the age of 20, it is time for him to rise as the ‘Blue Bird’ of Korean table tennis at the Paris Olympics.
Shin Yu-bin said, “My mindset going into the Olympics is the same as it was three years ago,” and added, “I don’t feel any pressure. My goal is to win a medal in every event I compete in.” 토토사이트