Lee Eun-sil Easily Lands in Final 32

Female ping-pong player, Lee Eun-sil (Samsung Card, 36th in world ranking), advanced to the final 32 at the 2004 Volkswagen Korea Open.

Winning both the single and doubles games at the Egypt Open this year, Lee achieved two wins by beating Shiosaki Yuka (Japan) and Pota Georgina (Hungary) with scores of 4-1 and 4-2 respectively in the preliminary Group 3 on the first day of this event, held at Yongpyoung Dom of Yong-pyoung Resort, Pyoungchang, Kwangwon Province on May 20. These victories allowed her to enter the final 32 sitting in first place in the group. Seok Eun-mi (Korean Air), who will pair up with Lee Eun-sil for the doubles team in the Athens Olympic, defeated Park Seong-hye (Jeju Tourist High School) and Marina Kravchenko (Israel) with 4-1, 4-2 scores respectively to advance to the next round.

However, Yoon Ji-hye (Korea Racing Association), who became a national player by qualifying in the tryout for national players and placing first this year, had three losses and failed to advance.

Meanwhile, Yoo Seung-min (Samsung Card), Joo Se-hyuk (Korea Athletic Corps), O Sang-eun, and a woman, Kim Kyoung-a (Korean Air), who were already seeded, will have their first match for the final 16 on May 21.

In last year’s tournament, only the men’s double team of Kim Taek-soo and O Sang-eun and the women’s single, Kim Kyoung-a, advanced to final four for the Korean team, with the rest of them dropping out because of their inferiority to the Chinese power.

Sung-Kyu Kim kimsk@donga.com