adminIt was a ‘miracle on the table’. The underdogs Shin Yoo-bin (19, Korean Air) and Jeon Jeon-hee (31, Mirae Asset Securities) swept aside “world champions” Sun Ying-sa and Wang Man-yu (China) to reach the women’s doubles final at the World Championships.
On Sunday (July 27) at the Durban International Convention Center (DICC) in South Africa, the team of Shin Yubin and Jeon Jeon-hee defeated the world number one pair of Sun Yingxia and Wang Man-yu 3-0 (11-7 11-9 11-6) in the Women’s Doubles semifinals of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Championships 2023.
In the quarterfinals on Friday, Shin and Jeon defeated reigning European champions Bernadette Sötz (ROM) and Sophia Polkanova (AUS) 3-0 (11-9 15-13 11-4). With their quarterfinal victory, the pair secured their first women’s doubles medal at the World Championships in 12 years, since the 2011 edition in Rotterdam.
With the bronze medal already secured, the quarterfinalists faced the world’s strongest pair, Sun Yingxia and Wang Manyu. Facing the ‘Chinese Aces’, who in many ways were considered unbeatable, the pair performed at over 100% of their best to complete the miracle.
They also reached the final of the women’s individual event at the World Championships for the first time in 30 years. The “legend of Korean women’s table tennis,” Hyun Jeong-hwa, won gold in the women’s singles event in 1993 in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Shin Yubin and Jeon Jeon-hee are looking to make history. They will follow in Hyun’s footsteps and win gold 30 years later.
In game one, South Korea took an 8-5 lead after Shin Yoo-bin served and Jeon Jeon-hee attacked back-to-back points. She dominated the rally battle and took the first game 11-7.
The Chinese pair of Sun Yingxia and Wang Manyu fought back to take a 4-0 lead in game two. Shin Yubin-Jeonhee gradually closed the gap and tied the score at 8-8. In this situation, Jeon Jeon-hee used a bold forehand attack and scored consecutive points. They took the second game 11-9 and moved one step closer to the final.
In game three, the duo continued their upward trend. They didn’t miss any scoring opportunities in the tiebreaker and won the third game 11-6 to advance to the final.
They will now face China’s Chen Meng and Wang Yidi for the title.
Meanwhile, in the Men’s Doubles, Jang Woo-jin (27, Mirae Asset Securities) and Lim Jong-hoon (26, Korea Exchange) reached their second consecutive final after winning in Houston in 2021.
In the men’s doubles semifinals, Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon defeated Germany’s Dmitry Ovcharov and Patrik Franziska 3-2 (11-7 5-11 8-11 11-9 11-5) in a close match.
Korean table tennis secured two silver medals, reaching the finals in the men’s and women’s doubles.
Together, the quarterfinalists Lee Sang-soo (33) and Cho Dae-sung (21, Samsung Life Insurance) fell 1-3 (11-7 3-11 5-11 12-14) to the ‘world’s strongest’ pair of Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin. Although they didn’t make the final, Lee Sang-soo and Cho Dae-sung performed well and earned a valuable bronze medal.
Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon will face the world No. 1 doubles pair of Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin in the final.토토사이트
Meanwhile, TV channels SPOTV, SPOTV ON and sports OTT service SPOTV NOW will provide live satellite coverage of key matches at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships. There will also be live coverage on SPOTV ASIA. SPOTV Asia is available in 13 countries across the Southeast Asian region and offers a wide range of content, including tennis Grand Slam events Wimbledon and the US Open, men’s professional tennis ATP Tour, motorcycle racing event MotoGP, World Table Tennis (WTT) table tennis events, BWF badminton events and the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Sport Climbing World Cup.