Don't underestimate allure of soft tennis

Soft tennis player Kim Ae-kyung returns the ball during a women’s singles match at the East Asian Games, held in October in Tianjin, China. / Courtesy of Korea Soft Tennis Association

This is the second in a series of stories that will introduce unique or relatively unknown sports to be featured at the Incheon Asian Games. ― ED.

By Baek Byung-yeul

Soft tennis, as its name implies, has many things in common with tennis, but its unique characteristics will be featured in the Asian Games, although it has not been included as part of the core Olympic sports program.

The sport was first developed in Japan in the late 19th century in an effort to allow “smaller” Asians to enjoy tennis. Now, it is mainly played in Asian countries, along with some European nations, for the purpose of educating school children.

The biggest differences from regular tennis are that players use a soft, hollow rubber ball and a relatively lighter and small-sized racket. A ball used in soft tennis usually weighs 21 to 31 grams, while a tennis ball weighs almost 60 grams.

“Once you have a chance to play soft tennis, you’ll see how easy it is to play it,” Ju In-sik, head coach of Korean men’s soft tennis national team, told The Korea Times. “Thanks to the light racket and soft ball, everyone can enjoy this sport regardless of gender or age.”

But differences also make the sport more exciting to play and to watch, he said.

“For example, for single matches, players compete in a single set, best of seven games, and the player who wins four games first wins the match. It usually takes less than an hour, which lightens the physical burden on players,” Ju said.

For doubles matches, players compete in a single set but it's a best of nine games, and the team that wins five games is the winner.

Another important fact that a lot of people do not know is that Korea used to be a world powerhouse in the sport.

Ever since the sport became part of the official Asian Games program from the 1994 Hiroshima Games, Korea has collected 16 gold medals.

The country’s biggest breakthrough came in 2002 when the Korean team bagged all seven gold medals available in the competition. In the Asian Games, single and double matches for men and women and mixed doubles are played, and a total of seven gold medals are available.

"In 2002, soft tennis played a pivotal role in putting Korea in second place in the overall medal standings behind China,” said Ju, who also coached men’s soft tennis team in 2002. “But that was the end of the country’s moment of glory. The country was able to win only four gold medals in the two following Asiads ― two each in 2006 and 2010.”

Ju, who has returned to coach the national team 12 years after doing so in the Busan Asian Games, vowed to revive the past glory, aiming to earn at least three gold medals.

“Team Japan will be the biggest obstacle in the way of our plan because it has been doing well in recent international championships,” he said.

He added Kim Dong-hoon, a male soft tennis player, and Kim Ae-kyung, a bronze medalist in the women’s singles at the 2010 Asiad, are strong medal contenders for Korea.

Soft tennis in the Inchoen Asian Games will begin with men and women’s singles matches on Sept. 29 and will wrap up with men and women’s team matches on Oct. 4 at the Yeolumul Tennis Stadium.