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| Photo source=WTT |
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"Korea Women's Table Tennis Top Ranker" Shin Yoo-bin (16th in the world) has finally reached the semifinals of the dream singles. She smiled broadly after securing a bronze medal with her first career women's singles semifinal in Smash, China.
In the quarterfinals of the 2025 World Table Tennis (WTT) China Smash Women's Singles held in Beijing, China, on the 2nd, Shin defeated Zhu Chun-hee (Samsung Life Insurance) by a game score of 4-2. In the semifinals, which will take place on the 4th, he will face Wang Man-yu (world No. 2) of China's top ranker.
It is the first semifinal match of the women's singles and the first round of Shin Yu-bin's career in the women's singles, where top world-class rankers will participate. In the mixed doubles with Lim Jong-hoon, he proved his world class by winning an Olympic bronze medal, a world championship silver medal, and a bronze medal in the women's doubles with Jeon Ji-hee. Shin Yu-bin, who lost eight singles matches against Chinese players this year, said shortly after winning two doubles bronze medals at the Doha World Championships in June that he was "going into the tiger cave." Despite the multi-medal medal at the Olympics and the World Championships, there was a lot of regret that he failed to beat China's top ranker in singles. He often said to himself "You have to beat the Chinese and Japanese ace in the world class."
By gaining training and hands-on experience in the Chinese Super League, Shin Yu-bin has grown to another level. With his unique smartness, he quickly adapted to the Super League, and his vague fear of Chinese players disappeared. Shin Yu-bin's table tennis in this tournament is fast and strong. In the strength of the ball, no matter who you are against, you are not behind. The movement of boldly turning to the fore from the backside has changed noticeably, and the scene of overwhelming the opponent with the foredrive has increased.
In the round of 16, he won against Kwaiman '4th place in the world', and in the quarterfinals, he first gave up two games to 'the naturalization ace'Ju Chun-hee (35th place in the world) and then reached the semifinals with a come-from-behind victory of catching four games.
In fact, Shin Yu-bin has an absolute advantage over Kwaiman in history. He won the semifinals of the Asian Junior Championships in 2019 when he was a junior in middle school, and also won the Asian Championships last year. Unfortunately, he lost in the Super League just before the Chinese smash, but he avenged himself and showed off his appearance as a `natural enemy' at this tournament.
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| Photo source=WTT |
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| Photo source=WTT |
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The confrontation with Joo Chun-hee was also a great match. Zhu Chen-hui defeated Japanese ace Ito Mima (8th in the world) and Chinese ace Xu Xunyao (12th in the world) to advance to the quarterfinals. In the women's doubles, she made it to the finals with Hina Hayata. It was also the first time for a Korean player to play in the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals between the two Korean aces over the Great Wall and the match between them in Beijing, the heart of Chinese table tennis, were brilliant. It was a scene where Shin Yu-bin and Joo Chun-hee, who became stronger, were expected to play together in the future of Korean women's table tennis.
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| Photo source=WTT |
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Seok Eun-mi, head coach of the women's table tennis team, said "It was a semifinal match that both (Shin) Yu-bin and we really wanted." Yubin hinted that he really liked it, saying, `I really wanted to go to the semifinals of singles.' "Beating a Chinese player in the Grand Smash tournament in China to reach the semifinals for the first time in women's singles means a lot to both individuals and the national team. As many as 16 Chinese players participated in the singles competition," he said, explaining his special meaning.
"It was good that Yubin analyzed the contents of his several matches against Quaiman well and quickly made a preemptive attack in advance by finding out the opponent's pattern." The ability to switch between offense and defense has also increased in the rally," he said, explaining the secret of his first trip to the semifinals.
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| photo courtesy of the Korea Table Tennis Association |
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However, coach Seok was never satisfied at this point with the gold medal at the Busan Asian Games and the silver medal at the Athens Olympics. `Getting past a Chinese player in a big competition for the first time in a long time will give us confidence,' he said. `We still need more delicate ball weight, rotation, serve and reception, and there are many things we need to improve to break the thick walls of Chinese players" he pointed out. "Yubin is a player who trains longer in front of the table than any other player. I believe I can grow further in the future because I am a player who is positive in everything and works very hard."
Coach Seok led Jeon Ji-hee and Shin Yu-bin's 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games doubles gold, 2023 Durban World Championships silver, 2024 Paris Olympics women's team bronze and mixed doubles bronze, and kept South Korea's second place in a row as a senior coach at last year's Chengdu Mixed World Cup, when the coach was vacant. As a talented leader and table tennis senior with warm and delicate communication skills, he is leading the revival of women's table tennis.
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| Photo source=WTT SNS |
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| Photo source=WTT |
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In this competition, Shin Yu-bin's 「Spirit Partner」 Jeon Ji-hee is also visiting the site every day to cheer for her with her six-month pregnancy. Jun Ji-hee is married to former national team coach Shiker after retirement and lives near Beijing. Director Seok said, `Ji-hee comes every day to support me, deliver coffee, and buy me food. Yubin also analyzed table tennis,' he said, expressing the strong atmosphere of the one team. "I will do my best with the players to continue this momentum and atmosphere at the Aichi and Nagoya Asian Games next year." was also a reliable promise.
Reporter Jeon Young-ji sky4us@sportschosun.com
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
