BTS member V roots for Korean table tennis teen
BTS member V / Korea Times file
BTS member V's message supporting self-proclaimed BTS fan and teenage ping pong sensation Shin Yu-bin has gone viral.
Shin Yu-bin, the youngest member of the South Korean women's table tennis team at 17, is a fan of the South Korean supergroup. Shin, who beat Luxembourg's Xia Lian Ni, a 58-year-old veteran athlete, at the Tokyo Olympics Women's Singles Round 2 on Sunday, has often mentioned how she is a huge fan of the septet.
Previous interviews showed her carrying photos of BTS members in her backpack, and she has picked the BTS song "Dope," a single from the 2015 EP "The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1," as a track that gets her going when she feels down.
In June, the teenaged athlete also shared a photo of her holding an autographed album by BTS with the hashtags "BTS" and "Bangtansonyeondan."
"I'm a seongdeok," she wrote in Korean, referring to Korean slang that translates as a "successful fan."
V, apparently Shin's favorite member of the seven-piece act, has returned the love by posting a message of support for the Olympic athlete.
In a screenshot posted on the fan community platform Weverse that shows Shin saying she often listens to BTS music, V left a comment saying "Fighting" in Korean with a thumbs-up emoji.
The interaction has gone viral, with BTS Army ― the group's international fan base ― sharing stories of how V himself is an avid table tennis player and how it is good to see the top stars in different fields supporting each other.
Shin is set to face Hong Kong's Hoi Kem Doo on Tuesday. (Yonhap)