‘Miracle at the table’ Shin Yubin-Jeon Hee beat ‘world’s best’ China to reach final
The ‘miracle on the table’ happened. Underdogs Shin Yoo-bin (19, Korean Air) and Jeon Jeon-hee (31, Mirae Asset Securities) overcame ‘world champions’ Sun Ying-sa and Wang Man-yu (China) to reach the women’s doubles final at the World Championships.
The pair 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 semi-finals of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Championships 2023 at the Durban International Convention Centre (DICC) in South Africa on Sunday (27 July).
In their quarter-final match on 25 May, Shin and Jeon defeated ‘European Champions’ Bernadette Sötz (ROM) and Sophia Polkanova (AUS) 3-0 (11-9 15-13 11-4). By reaching the quarter-finals, the pair secured their first women’s doubles medal at the World Championships in 12 years after the 2011 edition in Rotterdam.
With the bronze medal already secured, the quarter-finalists faced Sun Yingxia and Wang Manyu, two of the strongest players in the world. Facing the ‘Chinese Aces’, who in many ways were considered unbeatable, the pair performed at over 100 per cent of their best to complete the miracle.먹튀검증
They also made it to 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 at the 1993 Games 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’s serve was followed by back-to-back attacks from Jeon Jeon-hee. 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. The pair of Shin Yubin-Jeonhee gradually closed the gap and levelled the score at 8-8. In this situation, Zheng used a bold forehand attack and scored consecutive points. They took the second game 11-9 and took a step closer to reaching 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 secure their place in 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 following their victory in Houston in 2021.
In the men’s doubles semi-final, 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 quarter-finalists 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 Jian-dong and Wang Chu-chin. Although they did not reach the final, Lee and Cho performed well to take home a valuable bronze medal.
Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon will play the world number one doubles pair of Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin in the final.
Meanwhile, TV channels SPOTV, SPOTV ON and sports OTT service SPOTV NOW will provide live satellite coverage of key events at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships. There will also be live coverage on SPOTV ASIA. SPOTV Asia is broadcast 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, the men’s professional tennis ATP Tour, motorcycle racing event MotoGP (GP), World Table Tennis (WTT) table tennis events and the BWF badminton event International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Sport Climbing World Cup.