Lim, Shin win back-to-back WTT mixed doubles

South Korea’s leading mixed doubles team, Lim Jong-hoon and Shin Yu-bin, secured first place in the World Table Tennis (WTT) Series for the second straight week by defeating a Chinese pair.

Ranked fifth globally in mixed doubles, Lim and Shin beat China’s Huang Youzheng and Chen Yi in straight sets, three to none, in the final of the WTT Contender Zagreb tournament on Sunday. The win followed their victory at the WTT Star Contender Ljubljana, which concluded on June 21, giving them back-to-back titles.

In the first set, with the score tied at 10-all, Shin scored consecutive points to bring the pair closer to victory. Although trailing by two points in both the second and third sets, the South Korean duo rallied to win both, finishing the match in 26 minutes and 46 seconds. In the semifinals, they defeated Japanese siblings Tomokazu and Miwa Harimoto in straight sets.

This victory marks Lim and Shin’s third WTT Series title this season, following their earlier win at the Star Contender Chennai in March. The pair also won bronze medals at the Paris Olympics and this year’s World Championships.


Hong-Gu Kang windup@donga.com