S. Korea beats Germany for bronze in women's table tennis team event

From second left, Jeon Ji-hee, Lee Eun-hye and Shin Yu-bin of South Korea celebrate after winning bronze in the women's table tennis team event at the Paris Olympics at South Paris Arena 4, Aug. 10. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

• Published Aug 10, 2024 8:20 PM KST
• Updated Aug 10, 2024 8:20 PM KST

South Korea defeated Germany to claim the bronze medal in the women's table tennis team event at the Paris Olympics, Saturday.

The trio of Shin Yu-bin, Jeon Ji-hee and Lee Eun-hye beat Shan Xiaona, Wan Yuan and Annett Kaufmann by 3-0 after taking one doubles and two singles matches at South Paris Arena 4 in the French capital.

This was South Korea's second medal in the women's team event, which was added to the Olympics in 2008. South Korea won bronze that first year and went 16 years before picking up its second medal.

Shin, having earlier won the mixed doubles bronze, grabbed two medals at her second Olympics at age 20. Jeon, her 31-year-old doubles partner, earned her first medal at her third and possibly final Olympics. This was Lee's Olympic debut at 29.

Jeon and Lee are both Chinese natives who switched allegiance to South Korea in 2011.

Shin and Jeon won the opening doubles over Wan and Shan 3-2 (11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 10-12, 11-8). The South Koreans held match point at 10-9 in the fourth game before losing 12-10, allowing the Germans to force a deciding fifth game. And Shin and Jeon were down 7-4 in the final game before rallying with four straight points and then closing out the set and the match at 11-8.

Lee stepped up next and beat Kaufmann 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-2) in the singles. Lee rallied from a 7-5 deficit to win the second game and had a much easier time in the third to give South Korea a 2-0 lead in the match score.

Jeon then made quick work of Shan, beating her 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-6) without much of a pushback from her opponent. (Yonhap)