The Korean men’s and women’s table tennis teams have secured bronze medals in the team event at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games.
The Korean women’s team, led by Oh Kwang-heon, defeated Hong Kong by a match score of 3-1 to reach the semifinals of the women’s team event on Thursday at the Archer Canal Sports Park Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China.
At the Asian Games, table tennis does not play a third- or fourth-place match and awards bronze medals to both teams that lose in the semifinals.
Korean women’s table tennis has reached the semifinals of the team event at the Asian Games for the second consecutive time after winning bronze at Jakarta-Palembang 2018.
Korea will face Japan, who advanced with a 3-0 win over Chinese Taipei, in the semifinals on Friday at 12 noon KST.
The Koreans got off to a shaky start in the first singles, with “Ace” Shin Yubin (No. 8-Korean Air) falling 1-3 (9-11 12-10 8-11 7-11) to Du Hoikem (No. 32).
However, second singles player Jeon Jeon-hee (33rd-Mirae Asset Securities) turned things around with a 3-1 (8-11 11-9 11-7 13-11) win over Joo Cheong-ju (51st) and third singles player Seo Hyo-won (60th-Korea Horse Society) defeated Li Ho-ching (113th) 3-2 (6-11 11-6 11-6 4-11 11-8).
Shin Yubin, who took charge of the fourth singles, did not lose twice. She booked her place in the semifinals with a 3-0 (11-7 11-7 11-6) victory over Zhu Chengzhu.
In the next men’s team event, Korea, led by Joo Se-hyuk, swept India 3-0 in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals.
Ahn Jae-hyun (38th-Korea Exchange), Park Kang-hyun (176th-Korea Water Resources Corporation), and Oh Jun-sung (97th-Mirae Asset Securities) all came through for Korea.
South Korea will meet Iran, who defeated Japan 3-0, in the semifinals.
North Korea, the only women’s quarterfinalist, was eliminated later in the day with a 2-3 loss to Thailand.
The men’s quarterfinals will feature Korea-Iran and China-Taiwan, while the women’s semifinals will feature Korea-Japan and China-Thailand. 안전놀이터
