South Korea’s table tennis team player Shin Yu-bin is competing against China’s Chen Meng in the semifinals of the women’s singles at the ‘2024 Paris Olympics’ held at South Paris Arena 4 in Paris, France on the afternoon of the 2nd
Shin Yu-bin (20, Korean Air), who advanced to the Olympic table tennis singles semifinals for the first time in 20 years, bowed her head at the threshold of the finals, blocked by the ‘Great Wall’ of China. Although she lost, Shin Yu-bin’s great challenge continues. If she wins the bronze medal match, she can win her first singles medal since the 2004 Athens Games.
Shin Yu-bin, ranked 8th in the world, lost 0-4 (7-11 6-11 7-11 7-11 7-11) to Chen Meng (4th, China) in the semifinals of the women’s singles at the 2024 Paris Olympics table tennis held at the South Paris Arena in Paris, France at 5 PM on the 2nd (Korean time).
Shin Yu-bin was challenging for the singles gold medal for the first time in 20 years since Ryu Seung-min, the men’s singles gold medalist at the 2004 Athens Games, but Chen Meng, the ‘Tokyo Olympic double crown winner’ (women’s singles and team event), was too strong. The total record between Cheonmeng and Han is now 2 losses.
Shin Yu-bin could have made history by winning this match and becoming the first Korean table tennis player to advance to the Olympic women’s singles final, but she swallowed her disappointment.
In the past , Hyun Jung-hwa of the 1992 Barcelona Games and Kim Kyung-ah of the 2004 Athens Games also suffered defeats at the threshold of the finals. Shin Yu-bin, who won a spot in the semifinals the day before by playing a close match against Hirano Miu (13th place, Japan) in the quarterfinals that went to 7 games, tried to continue that momentum today.
In the early part of the first game, Shin Yu-bin played an even match with Chen Meng, and faced her 4-4. However, she struggled against Chen Meng’s attacks that shook left and right, and lost points in succession. At 7-10, Shin Yu-bin’s attack hit the net and went out, losing the first game. Shin Yu-bin gained momentum in the early part of the second game. She scored three consecutive points for the first time, leading 4-1. However, she was caught by Chen Meng’s fierce counterattack, and the momentum was broken when she allowed four points in a row at 5-5. Having lost two games, Shin Yu-bin tried to find a way to bounce back, but Chen Meng was flawless. Shin Yu-bin was down 0-5 in the third game, but belatedly started to fight back, but lost again 7-11.
Shin Yu-bin did not give up in the last four games and fought until 7-7, but ended the match by losing four consecutive points.
Although she did not make it to the finals, she still has a chance to win a medal. Shin Yu-bin will play the bronze medal match against the loser of Sun Yingsha (China) and Hayata Hina (Japan) at 8:30 PM on the 3rd.
Shin Yu-bin, who previously won a bronze medal in the mixed doubles with Lim Jong-hoon (27, Korea Exchange), will become the first Korean table tennis player to win two medals at a single Olympics, following Yoo Nam-gyu (gold in men’s singles, bronze in men’s doubles) at the 1998 Seoul Games and Hyun Jung-hwa (bronze in women’s singles, bronze in women’s doubles) and Kim Taek-soo (bronze in men’s singles, bronze in men’s doubles) at the 1992 Barcelona Games. 바카라게임
