Tears welled up 'Cutting God'Coach Joo Se-hyuk"I'm proud of the athletes' spirit of challenge toward the Great Wall"
Aug 07, 2024
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Joo Se-hyuk, head coach of the men's table tennis team, shed tears after the men's table tennis stopped in the quarterfinals of the team event at the Paris Olympics.
The men's table tennis team consisting of Jang Woo-jin (29, Se-ah, world No. 13), Lim Jong-hoon (27, Korea Exchange, world No. 29), and Cho Dae-sung (21, Samsung Life Insurance, world No. 21) lost to China with a match score of 0-3 in the quarterfinals of the men's team event at the Paris Olympics held at the South Paris Arena at 5 p.m. on the 6th (Korea time). Although the score was completely defeated, Lim Jong-hoon of the second singles played a hot game against Paris singles gold medalist Pan Jendong and Jang Woo-jin continued a tight rally against world No. 1 Wang Chu-chin. However, the iron wall of the Great Wall did not fall again this time.
Coach Joo Se-hyuk, who stood in the mixed zone after finishing his trip to Paris in the quarterfinals, said "It's scary to try when we've been losing against a country for more than 20 years in the relativity game, but our players are doing really well." Coach Joo, who was talking about the spirit of challenge of junior players, stopped shedding tears. "When I think about our players..."I couldn't stop talking.
Coach Joo, who was recognized as the world's best defensive typical player when he was a player, and won the silver medal at the World Championship in 2003 here in Paris, is a calm personality who has never cried even when he was a player. After missing a medal in his first Olympics as a head coach, 'World Class Shaving' shed tears.
After his last silver medal in the team event at the 2012 London Olympics, he postponed his retirement in 2016 and volunteered to serve as a stepping-stone for his seniors and juniors. However, after missing a medal at the Rio Olympics, where Lee Sang-soo and Jung Young-sik competed with their juniors, the sense of responsibility for not having a medal for 12 years has always bothered me. This was the reason why he volunteered to become the head coach of the men's national team after no medal in men's table tennis at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. As such, connecting the medal line of South Korea's men's table tennis at the Paris Olympics was a desperate aspiration and calling for all of the junior players, including coach Joo and Jang Woo-jin, who had been active with him.
Coach Joo, who struggled to hold back tears, said "I think our players' spirit of challenge is really great." There is nothing as lonely and difficult as challenging even though you know you can't do it to the world like Sisyphus, who has to constantly push rocks up a stone mountain. He praised the courage and undaunted spirit of his juniors, who did not give up even though they knew they would not be able to do it, but did not feel intimidated and challenged until the end.
Coach Joo said, `It's not easy to keep trying to lose to another opponent every time, but it's not easy to keep trying to lose to one country for decades.'"I'm sorry for the advance, but I think it's too harsh for our players. He was seeded fifth and met China in the quarterfinals. I don't think we're at a disadvantage in winning rates against any country other than China. "No country has beaten China in a major tournament since Korea beat China in the Asian Games in 1986. I know it's not easy, but our players continue to challenge against China. I'm proud of our players who have lost for 20 years without backing down and continuing to challenge their opponents."
Players such as Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon also thanked Joo, who had him like a manager, when he endured lonely without his team. Jang Woo-jin "We prepared for the Olympics under poor circumstances. He said, "I had a hard time alone, and I tried to make up my mind strong by myself, and I wanted to show people that I couldn't show them, but I'm sorry I couldn't show them." "Director Joo is the director, but he did it like a senior like an older brother." Thanks to that, I'm here. We played table tennis together for about 3 years, but eventually learned life. I learned that this is how to become a bigger player and a bigger person, and that table tennis is not the end. He said, "I've been through many coaches, but he proved that we can develop Korean table tennis only when we do it this way." And I said this word. "I'm the director, but I just want to say, 'Thank you, brother.'"
sky4us@sportschosun.com
