Only two wins up to the Olympic first singles medal'Shin Yu-bin advances to the quarterfinals'
Aug 01, 2024
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'World No. 8' Shin Yu-bin won 4-0 (11-2 11-8 11-4 15-13) against Lily Zhang of the United States (29th) in the round of 16 round of table tennis at the 2024 Paris Olympics held at South Paris Arena 4 in Paris, France on the 1st (Korean time). Shin Yu-bin, who succeeded in advancing to the quarterfinals of the Olympic singles for the first time, is now aiming for a medal. Japan's Hirano Miu (13th) will compete in the semifinals. If he wins two more games in the future, Shin Yu-bin will be honored to win the Olympic singles for the first time. Kim Kyung-ah, who won a bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Games, was the last Korean athlete to win a medal in the women's singles at the Olympics.
Shin Yu-bin and Hirano are tight with one win and one loss in their career history. Hirano won 3-1 in the recent match in the semi-finals of the team event at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year. If Shin Yu-bin defeats Hirano, he will meet the winner of the match between Chen Meng (4th, China) and Sofia Polkanova (23rd, Austria) in the semifinals.
Shin Yu-bin was paired with Lim Jong-hoon (Korea Exchange) two days ago and won a bronze medal in mixed doubles. Shin Yu-bin and Lim Jong-hunjo beat 'Hong Kong ace team' Wong Chun-ting and Du Hoi-kem team (4th in the world) to a perfect 4-0 game score (11-5 11-7 11-7 14-12). With Shin Yu-bin's strong performance, Korean table tennis has won an Olympic medal for the first time in 12 years since the men's team silver medal at the 2012 London Games.
The excitement of winning the prize was also brief. Shin Yu-bin, who came back to the stadium with the bronze medal he received at the ceremony in his bag without taking it out, won 4-1 against Hungary's Lazy or Potta in the round of 32. The round of 16 was more one-sided. He only gave up deuce in the last four sets, but he pushed his opponent unilaterally and won the game completely.
vanbasten@sportschosun.com
