The Korean pair of Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon (KEUR 1) fell just short of the ‘Great Wall of China’ to claim silver in the men’s table tennis doubles at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games.
Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon were defeated 0-4 (6-11 8-11 7-11 3-11) by China’s Fan Zhen-dong and Wang Chuqin in the men’s doubles final at the Archer Canal Sports Park Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China on 1 January.
With the loss, Korean table tennis failed to win the men’s doubles gold medal at the Asian Games for the first time in 21 years since the 2002 edition in Busan, when Lee Chul-seung-Seung-min won the title.
Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon, who reached two consecutive finals at the 2011 World Championships in Houston and 2013 World Championships in Durban but settled for silver, continued their major tournament finals jinx by finishing as runners-up.
Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon will have to wait for another opportunity to win their first international all-around gold medal.
The Korean team has so far collected two silver medals (men’s team and men’s doubles) and four bronze medals (women’s team, women’s singles and two mixed doubles), with two more bronze medals in the bag.
Jang Woo-jin will make his final bid for gold in the men’s singles, which will be contested from the semi-finals to the final on the second day.
The pair of Shin Yubin (Korean Air)-Jeon Jeon Hee (Mirae Asset Securities) will also try to win the women’s doubles, with the semi-finals and final taking place on the same day.
Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin are ranked one place lower than Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon in the doubles rankings, but they are the top-ranked singles pair. Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon are ranked 13th and 17th respectively.
After winning the men’s team event and the mixed doubles with Sun Yingxia, China’s ‘next big thing’ Wang Chuchin also won gold in the men’s doubles, making it a three-peat.
Wang Chuqin will win the tournament’s fourth title if he finishes the two-day quarter-final tournament with two straight wins.
The Chinese pair of Zhang Wu Jin and Lim Jong Hoon played with a lot of determination, but could not overcome the gap in skill as the Chinese fans filled the 6,900-seat stadium with chants of “jiaoyou” (加油).
In the second and third games, they were almost evenly matched until the very end, but it was always the Chinese who were able to ‘come from behind’ to win the game points.
In the women’s singles final, Sun Yingxia (No. 1), who had defeated Shin Yubin (Korean Air) in the semi-finals, defeated Japan’s Hina Hayata (No. 9) 4-1 (11-5 11-9 10-12 11-8 11-7).
Sun Yingxia, who won the team and mixed doubles titles at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, claimed her first Asian Games singles gold medal after emerging as China’s ‘ace’.
Sun Yingxia also won gold in the team and mixed doubles, making her a triple winner. 파워볼분석