After securing three doubles medals, Korean table tennis was wiped out in the singles, failing to make it past the round of 16. The barriers were particularly high for China and Japan.
The top-ranked Korean men’s and women’s players, Lim Jong-hoon (26-World No. 11) and Shin Yubin (19-World No. 26), were unable to overcome the Great Wall of China, while Seo Hyo-won (36-World No. 108) was stopped by Japan. Jang Woo-jin (28-World No. 13) was stopped by a world No. 180 player.
Lim Jong-hoon was defeated 0-4 (7-11 5-11 3-11 6-11) by Ma Rong of China (World No. 3) in the round of 16 of the men’s singles event at the 2023 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Championships at the Durban International Convention Center (DICC) in Durban, South Africa, on Friday (May 25).
Ma Rong, one of the greatest players in world table tennis history, including becoming the first player to win back-to-back Olympic men’s singles titles, was dominant on the day. Lim fought back to tie the game five times from 1-1 to 5-5, but Ma Long gradually widened the gap and eventually took the first game 11-7.
In game two, she was down 2-6, but a high floating shot and an out at the net narrowed the deficit to 5-6. However, Marong quickly responded with five straight points to take the second game. In game three, Marong scored eight straight points at 3-3. The fourth game was also tied at 3-3, but Marong was able to pull away to take the win.
After the match, Lim Jong-hoon said, “Obviously, in a big tournament, (the Chinese players) play very skillfully, so it’s not easy to close the score. “It’s unfortunate that the match went so badly, but it means that the opponent did a good job, and I want to show my respect,” he said.
“He was an all-around player. When we were evenly matched, she was a wall in defense, which gave me more strength, and her good offense put a lot of pressure on me when I had to defend.” “I want to respect my opponent and work on my defense like Marong,” she said.
Earlier in the day, Xin Yubin also lost her women’s singles round of 16 match to China’s Sun Yingxia 0-4 (6-11 8-11 8-11 5-11). She had some good rallies with Sun Yingxia during the match, winning some points, but was unable to pull out the win.
“It was great to play against the world number one, but it also showed me a lot of things that I need to work on in practice,” said Shin.
Shin, who ended her women’s singles career in the round of 64 with a wrist injury at the last tournament, made it to the round of 16 this time around. “I’m grateful to be able to play,” she said, “but I think my control and delicacy with the ball is lacking, so I want to work on that.”먹튀검증
The eldest member of the team, Seo Hyo-won, lost 0-4 (5-11 9-11 6-11 8-11) to Japan’s Hina Hayata (World No. 10) in the round of 16 in the women’s singles event. Seo, who reached the quarterfinals of the women’s singles at the last edition of the tournament, was the highest-ranked Korean male or female player in the event, battled Hayata in the second and fourth games but was unable to break through. Earlier in the day, Jeon Jeon-hee lost to Japan’s Miu Hirano (ranked 19th) in the round of 32, while Ision was stopped by China’s Chen Xing-tong (ranked 5th) in the round of 64.
In the men’s singles, Jang Woo-jin, ranked 180th in the world, was knocked out in the round of 16 by Anders Lind (DEN) 1-4 (7-11 11-7 9-11 5-11 6-11).