"Medal Challenge Is Not Over"
[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] South Korean men's table tennis has smoothly begun its final challenge for an Olympic medal.
The South Korean men's table tennis team, composed of Lee Sang-su (Samsung Life), Jeong Young-sik, and Jang Woo-jin (both from Mirae Asset Securities), defeated Slovenia, featuring Deni Kozul, Bojan Tokic, and Darko Jorgic, 3-1 in the round of 16 at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium on the 1st.
South Korea will face the winner of the Brazil-Serbia match in the quarterfinals at 2:30 PM on the 2nd.
Previously, the men's table tennis team, whose medal hopes were dashed in both the mixed doubles with Lee Sang-su and Jeon Ji-hee (POSCO Energy) and the singles featuring Jeong Young-sik and Jang Woo-jin, is now aiming for their best-ever result in the team event, where they have shown strong performance.
Since the team event was officially adopted as an Olympic discipline at the 2008 Beijing Games, South Korean men's table tennis has consistently reached at least the semifinals, winning bronze in Beijing, silver in London 2012, and finishing fourth in Rio 2016.
Ranked 4th in the world and fueled by disappointment from earlier events, South Korea decisively took the initiative against 18th-ranked Slovenia.
In the first doubles match, Lee Sang-su and Jeong Young-sik easily took the lead by sweeping Kozul and Tokic 3-0 (11-8, 11-8, 11-6).
In the second singles, Jang Woo-jin initially struggled against Jorgic. He lost the first set due to difficulty handling the heavily spun cuts.
However, from the middle of the second set, after adapting to his opponent's style, Jang turned the momentum in his favor and took a 2-1 lead in sets.
Jang lost the closely contested fourth set but pushed his opponent with strong drives in the final fifth set to win 3-2 (7-11, 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5).
South Korea's momentum was briefly halted in the third singles, where Jeong Young-sik lost 1-3 (11-9, 5-11, 5-11, 10-12) to the experienced 40-year-old Tokic.
However, Slovenia's offensive push ended there.
In the fourth singles, Jang Woo-jin led with aggressive drives to defeat Kozul 3-1 (11-6, 10-12, 11-9, 11-8).
Although Jang fell behind 7-8 in the final fourth set, he regained the lead 9-8 with a deep drive to the left corner of the table.
Following an opponent's error after a cut, he secured match points at 10-8 and sealed the victory with a final successful attack, confirming South Korea's advancement to the quarterfinals.
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