This was Shin Yubin’s (Korean Air) answer to a question about whether her performance has weakened due to her ‘hard work’ to manage the rankings.
Shin won three medals at the Pyeongchang 2023 Asian Table Tennis Championships, which concluded on Tuesday at the Pyeongchang Dome in Gangwon Province.
She won one silver in the women’s team event and two bronze medals in the mixed doubles and women’s doubles.
In the women’s singles, however, she suffered an early exit in the round of 16 with a shock loss to Thailand’s Orawan Paranang. In the singles rankings, Shin is ranked 9th and Paranang is ranked 92nd.
Many table tennis fans have criticized Shin’s lack of success in singles, saying it is due to the way the national team is managed, which focuses on rankings.
South Korean national team players have hardly missed a World Table Tennis (WTT) event this year.
This is because playing as many WTT events as possible is an advantageous way to improve their ranking. The higher the ranking, the better the chances of getting a good seeding at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
If you get a good draw, you can play the ‘strongest’ Chinese players as late as possible, which increases your chances of winning a medal.
Xin Yubin played 13 international events this year, including the WTT World Championships. She traveled to Asia, Europe, Africa (South Africa-Tunisia) and South America (Brazil).
Table tennis people who organize criticism days for the national team argue that ‘skill’, not ranking, is important to beat the strongest players, so they should be given time to train domestically instead of ‘hitting and miss’ international tournaments to manage their ranking.
Shin Yubin, who partnered with Jeon Jeon-hee (Mirae Asset Securities) to win the bronze medal in the women’s doubles semifinals after losing 1-3 to Sun Yingxia and Wang Yidi, spoke to reporters after the tournament.
“I think it’s a good experience (to compete in international tournaments), and I can’t grow if I don’t have that experience,” she said.
“(The ranking system) applies to all players equally. It’s not just for us,” he said, adding, “We just have to work harder.”
South Korean players have never beaten China in the tournament. Shin Yubin was no different. She lost to China in the team event, mixed doubles, and women’s doubles, ending her challenge.
“To beat players who are better than you, you can’t just do one thing well. You need to be able to master multiple skills,” she said, vowing to “make my table tennis more solid.”
With the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games just 10 days away, Shin Yubin is more excited than nervous, saying, “I will prepare hard and try to make a good performance in Hangzhou.”
“I want to praise myself for surviving to the last day of the competition,” said Jeon, adding, “I apologize to Yu Binyi for my mistake at the end of the doubles today. I will do the best I can at the Asian Games.”
“Playing in Korea put a lot of pressure on the players and coaches,” said Oh Kwang-heon, head coach of the women’s national team, adding, “We will try to redeem ourselves against the Chinese players. I think we can do even better in Hangzhou.” 안전놀이터
