Go to contents

Women table tennis team makes it to World Championship finals

Women table tennis team makes it to World Championship finals

Posted May. 29, 2023 08:14,   

Updated May. 29, 2023 08:14

한국어

Korean table tennis players Shin Yu-bin (age 19) and Jeon Ji-hee (age 31) lost to China’s Wang Yidi (age 26) and Chen Meng (age 29) 0-3 (8-11, 7-11, 10-12) in the women’s doubles match held at the 2023 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Championship held in Durban, South Africa on Saturday. They made it to the final, beating the Chinese team of Sun Ying-sha (age 23)- Wang Manyu (age 24) 3-0 in the semi-finals on the previous day, but they failed to beat China twice.

It is the first time in 36 years for a Korean female table tennis player to reach the final round of individual doubles at the World Championship since Yang Young-ja and Hyun Jeong-hwa at the 1987 New Delhi tournament. After winning the World Championship, Yang and Hyeon also won the gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. No Korean female player has reached the final of the World Championships in single matches in 30 years since Hyun Jeong-hwa won the 1993 World Championship in Gothenburg.

“I feel sorry that I didn’t win in the finals, but I’m also happy to have achieved my goal of winning a medal,” said Shin. “We will be playing together in the Hangzhou Asian Games in September. I’m confident that we will do better after playing against Chinese teams this time,” she added.

“I suffered an injury at the Houston World Championship in 2021,” said Shin, with tears in her eyes. “Here we are today after recovering from that injury and working hard,” said Jeon consoling Shin, who underwent surgery on her right wrist after suffering from a fracture in the Houston games.


leper@donga.com