'Paris Paralympics Korean table tennis, good feeling'Veteran Kim Young-gun and Kim Jung-gil got 2 dongs from day one. Unfortunately, they failed to make it to the quarterfinals
Aug 30, 2024
|
The Korean table tennis team won six games in seven doubles on the first day of the tournament at the Sud Paris Arena 4 in Paris, France on the 29th (Korea time). In a total of six games, including the men's doubles (MD8 grade), the women's doubles (WD10 grade) round of 16, the men's doubles (MD4 grade) quarterfinals, and the mixed doubles (XD7 grade) two games, they continued their overwhelming winning streak. In the men's doubles (MD8) round of 16, the men's doubles (MD4), the semifinals of the men's doubles (MD4), and the mixed doubles (XD7), he achieved a perfect victory without losing a single set.
However, the group of "Veteran Duo" Kim Young-gun (40) and Kim Jung-gil (38, Gwangju Metropolitan City Hall) lost the quarterfinals of the men's doubles (MD8) held for the last time on the day, and the "first day's victory challenge" was unfortunately canceled. Kim Young-gun and Kim Jung-gil played as many as three games on this day alone (the round of 16 men's doubles, quarterfinals). They had to stage a forced march to play a mixed doubles round of 16). Due to consuming a lot of energy in the men's doubles round of 16 and mixed doubles round of 16, they failed to secure a bronze medal in the men's doubles quarterfinals, catching up with low-seeded Turkiye group.
Still, the Korean table tennis team can be evaluated as doing quite well from the first day as Cha Soo-yong (44, Daegu Metropolitan City Hall), Park Jin-cheol (42, Gwangju City Hall), Jang Young-jin (31, Seoul Metropolitan City Hall) and Park Sung-joo (45, Toyota Korea) all won the bronze medal in the men's doubles (MD4) quarterfinals.
It was veteran duo Kim Young-gun and Kim Jung-gil who competed in the round of 16 of the men's doubles (MD8) that opened the door for the Korean table tennis team to do well. Kim Young-gun and Kim Jung-gil, evaluated by the Korea Sports Association for the Disabled as a "medal candidate", participated as the third seed and defeated Chile's Luis Flores-Maximiliano Rodriguez with a set score of 3-0 (11-7 16-14 11-5). Kim Young-gun and Kim Jung-gil, who easily won the first set, met the opponent's unexpected resistance in the second set and played a long deuce rally.
However, after five deuces, he won the second set 16-14 to overcome the crisis. Kim Young-gun and Kim Jung-gil, who fully seized the momentum, also won the third set 11-8 in eight minutes, reporting their first win in the table tennis team. Kim Jung-gil continued to deuce in the second set because he failed to finish at the point where he could finish because he made a few receiving mistakes. Let's just connect lightly and not give the ball to where the opponent is guarding. Fortunately, we were able to wrap it up well," he said in his victory speech. Kim Young-gun said, `Now they are all strong opponents from the quarterfinals. From now on, I think I have to focus more and do well in every game."
|
Veteran Kang Oe-jung commented on this game "It's not a loose game. In the next quarter-finals, the match is not very good to meet the No. 1 Chinese team. But I don't know the result, so I'll do my best," he said calmly. Lee Mi-gyu said " (Kang Oe-jung) is famous for playing without a miss, but I was too nervous. Fortunately, you pulled me well, so I was able to overcome the crisis and win"I thanked my partner. Then "I want to make my sister feel more confident in the match against China."I am determined.
|
In particular, Cha Soo-yong, Park Jin-cheol, and Jang Young-jin and Park Sung-joo do not meet each other in the semifinals. Cha Soo-yong and Park Jin-cheol will play against Slovakia in the semifinals, while Jang Young-jin and Park Sung-joo will clash with France. This means that if the two teams win the semifinals, South Korea can secure a gold medal and a silver medal. The best scenario is that Korean teams will face each other in the final. We're very similar, so I think the winning or losing will be determined by our condition on the day"I will definitely win the semifinals and show you the Korean team competing in the final, I promise. "
|
Kim Young-gun and Lee Mi-kyu, the fourth seed, met the 13th seed Valentin Baus-Jana Spiegel (Germany) and won the set score 3-1 (11-6 11-8 9-1 11-7). A mistake came out in the third set, but they quickly overcame the crisis by talking to each other.
About an hour and 40 minutes after the round of 16 mixed doubles, the men's doubles (MD8) quarterfinals of the Kim Young-gun and Kim Jung-gil group followed. If he won, he could secure the bronze medal.
However, Kim Young-gun and Kim Jung-gil, who played in two previous games (the round of 16 in men's doubles and the round of 16 in mixed doubles), failed to use their strength. He met the sixth-seeded Abdulla Ozturk-Nesim Turan (Turkiye) group and lost 0-3 (4-117-116-11) at the set-score within 30 minutes. Kim Young-gun and Kim Jung-gil won the gold medal at the 2024 Polish Open held at the end of March, but they had to stop in the quarterfinals in Paris. The fatigue of the previous two games was not easily resolved.
Cho Jae-kwan, manager of the table tennis team, said "When I played on the first day, the crowd shouted so loud that the players were a little nervous. However, as the set went on, he regained stability and regained his usual form. "The goal of this competition is to surpass the previous competition's performance, which had only one gold medal. I think I can achieve my goal if the good performance on the first day of doubles leads to singles in the future"The first day revealed the meaning of the performance.
wman@sportschosun.com
