Korean table tennis team advances to singles semifinals for the first time in 20 years 3:0→3:3→4:3 80 minutes of sweaty competition “I shed tears of relief that the match is over” If they win a medal, they will win the ‘multi’ title for the first time in 32 years.
South Korea’s table tennis team player Shin Yu-bin is drawing a heart after winning against Lily Zhang of the United States in the round of 16 of the women’s singles table tennis at the 2024 Paris Olympics held at South Paris Arena 4 in Paris, France on the morning of the 1st (Korean time).
‘Ppyak-ee’ Shin Yu-bin (20) advanced to the semifinals of the women’s singles table tennis event at the Paris Olympics. It has been 20 years since the 2004 Athens Games that a Korean table tennis player has advanced to the semifinals of the Olympic singles event.
World No. 8 Shin Yu-bin won 4-3 (11-4, 11-7, 11-5, 7-11, 8-11, 9-11, 13-11) in a close 80-minute full-game match against Hirano Miu (24, Japan, No. 13) in the women’s singles quarterfinals held at the South Paris Arena on the 1st.
Shin Yu-bin seemed to be taking the game easy by winning three games right from the start, but then lost three games in a row, allowing a tie. Shin Yu-bin was in a 9-10 crisis in the final seventh game. If she gave up just one more point, she would have lost the game. Shin Yu-bin immediately tied the game at 10-10, taking the game to deuce, and then confirmed the victory when Hirano’s smash failed to cross the net at 12-11. Shin Yu-bin raised both fists and shed tears after the game. Hirano also wiped away his tears with a towel.
Harano is the player who defeated Shin Yu-bin 1-3 in the semifinals of the women’s team event at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year. Shin Yu-bin, who paid off her debt after 311 days, is ahead with 2 wins and 1 loss in the head-to-head match against Hirano. Just like Shin Yu-bin did in Korea during her childhood, Hirano is also a player who made a name for herself as a table tennis prodigy in Japan. Hirano is also a member of the silver medalist team
in the women’s team event at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. With this win, Shin Yu-bin became the first Korean table tennis player to advance to the Olympic singles semifinals since the 2004 Athens Games. At that time, Yoo Seung-min (42) and Kim Kyung-ah (47) advanced to the men’s and women’s singles semifinals, respectively. Since Yoo Seung-min won gold and Kim Kyung-ah won bronze at the 2004 Athens Games, no Korean player has won an Olympic singles medal. Shin Yu-bin was eliminated in the round of 32 (third round) of the singles at the Tokyo Games three years ago, which was her first Olympics.
If Shin Yu-bin, who won a bronze medal in the mixed doubles at this competition, also wins a medal in the women’s singles, she will become the first Korean player in 32 years since Kim Taek-soo (54) and Hyun Jung-hwa (55) at the 1992 Barcelona Games to win the title of Olympic “multi-medalist.” If she also wins a medal in the team event, she will become the first Korean table tennis player to win three Olympic medals in the same competition. Shin Yu-bin, who entered the mixed zone after the match, said, “I didn’t cry when I won the bronze medal in the mixed doubles, but today, I cried because I thought it was over. They were tears of relief.” She continued, “I think eating the rice balls and bananas my mom made for me before going into the match was a factor in my victory.”
The video of Shin Yu-bin eating a banana during a match at the Olympics is also a hot topic on the Internet. Also, a video of her asking domestic reporters, “Are you tired? Are you okay?” as she leaves the mixed zone after winning 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles with Lim Jong-hoon (27), is also popular on social media.
Shin Yu-bin will face Chen Meng (30, China, 4th) on the 2nd for a spot in the finals. Shin Yu-bin lost to Chen Meng 1-4 in the quarterfinals of the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash this year. This is the only match the two players have faced off against each other. Shin Yu-bin said, “I have no regrets about making it (to the semifinals), so I want to have a match where I win. Please look forward to it.”
Ryu Seung-min, the president of the Korea Table Tennis Association and an International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes’ Commission member and gold medalist in the men’s singles at the 2004 Athens Olympics, said, “This match confirmed that Yu-bin has reached the highest level mentally and physically,” and “If the current atmosphere continues, she can definitely beat Chen Meng.” On this day, Jang Woo-jin (29), ranked 13th in the world, who had challenged to advance to the men’s singles semifinals before Shin Yu-bin, was completely defeated 0-4 (4-11, 7-11, 5-11, 6-11) by Hugo Calderano (28, Brazil, ranked 6th) in the quarterfinals. Jang Woo-jin also lost to Calderano in the round of 16 at the Tokyo Olympics. Jang Woo-jin admitted defeat, saying, “My opponent improved much faster than I improved.” 카지노사이트