100 Years of Korean Table Tennis in 2024... 'Ppiyak-i' Shin Yubin Rises as a Star in Paris

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Korean table tennis will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2024. It all began with a ping-pong tournament hosted by the Gyeongseong Il-il Newspaper in 1924. This meaningful year also marks the Olympic Games in Paris, France. It is the stage where the young female table tennis prodigy Shin Yu-bin (17, Korean Air), who experienced the Olympics for the first time in Tokyo this year, should shine even brighter. In three years, Shin Yu-bin will become a full-fledged adult at the age of twenty. The next three years are crucial. The goal now is Paris.

Shin Yu-bin announced the start of the women's table tennis team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In January last year, the national team was pushed to the repechage round in the Olympic qualifiers, making their trip to Tokyo uncertain. However, Shin Yu-bin’s outstanding performance in the team event secured their last chance to qualify.

At the Olympic main event, Shin Yu-bin reached the round of 32 in singles and the quarterfinals in the team event. Despite her young age, she demonstrated exceptional skills and left a strong impression. Fans call her the ‘youngest unnie’ (older sister). Although young in age and appearance, her skills and competitive spirit rival those of her older teammates.

The poor performance in this tournament was largely due to lack of experience. Due to the spread of COVID-19, many international competitions were canceled, leaving Shin Yu-bin with few opportunities to compete against world-class players. At the Olympics, she faced veteran players with age differences ranging from as little as ten to as much as thirty years, engaging in intense matches. She suffered the pain of elimination at critical moments due to her opponents’ experience. A representative example is the quarterfinal singles match in the team event against Han Ying (38, Germany). Shin Yu-bin struggled to manage the match as she encountered defensive-style table tennis for the first time.

Table tennis experts expect that the experience issue will be resolved once she challenges world tournaments. Her decision to forgo high school and join the professional team Korean Air is also expected to be a ‘masterstroke.’ Kang Moon-soo, the Korean Air coach, said, "Yu-bin quickly mastered a higher level of table tennis by joining the professional team and avoided unnecessary habits that could develop during the student athlete stage."

Shin Yu-bin possesses grit and strong mental strength. She is known as a ‘practice bug’ who plays table tennis all day long at the Korean Air dormitory and gym. After joining Korean Air, she endured hellish training such as the ‘ball box’ (a training where balls are rapidly fed from a box on the opposite side and the player must return them) for a year with persistence. Whenever her mental focus wavered, she regained composure by listening to songs by BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan).

The path to Paris may become smoother. Korean Air plans to support Shin Yu-bin so she can focus on table tennis while continuing her studies. They will spare no effort in providing support such as foreign language education. However, the Korea Table Tennis Association, which manages national team players, needs to improve its situation. After the late Chairman Cho Yang-ho passed away in April 2019, the annual support of 1 billion won from Hanjin Group was cut off. Securing various sponsorships and establishing a strong support system is essential to help promising players like Shin Yu-bin spread their wings and realize their dreams.