S. Korea cruises into quarters in ping pong mixed doubles; N. Korea stuns Japanese contenders
Shin Yu-bin, right, and Lim Jong-hoon of South Korea play Dang Qiu and Nina Mittelham of Germany in the round of 16 in the mixed doubles table tennis competition at the Paris Olympics at South Paris Arena 4 in Paris, July 27. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Teams from South Korea and North Korea both won their first matches of the mixed doubles table tennis event at the Paris Olympics on Saturday.
Lim Jong-hoon and Shin Yu-bin sailed into the quarterfinals by defeating Dang Qiu and Nina Mittelham of Germany 4-0 (12-10, 11-9, 12-10, 11-6) in the round of 16 at South Paris Arena 4 in Paris.
Lim and Shin, seeded third, needed just 34 minutes to dispatch the Germans.
The South Koreans went down 3-0 in the opening moments before scoring the next four points. At 10-10, Shin and Lim each picked up a winner to close out the game.
Lim clinched the second game with an acrobatic forehand winner. South Korea staged another rally in the third game and knocked off the Germans 11-6 in the fourth game.
The mixed doubles was added to the Olympic program in Tokyo three years ago, and it is considered South Korea's strongest of the five table tennis events in Paris.
South Korea's last table tennis medal is the silver in the men's team event in 2012.
In Sunday's quarterfinals, Lim and Shin will face No. 7 seed Ovidiu Ionescu and Bernadette Szocs of Romania.
North Korea's Ri Jong Sik, right in the back row, and Kim Kum Yong return against Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto and Japan's Hina Hayata during the mixed table tennis doubles round of 16 at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the South Paris Arena in Paris, July 27. AFP-Yonhap
Also on Saturday, Ri Jong-sik and Kim Kum-yong of North Korea shocked No. 2 seed from Japan, Tomokazu Harimoto and Hina Hayata, by 4-1 (11-5, 7-11, 11-4, 15-13, 12-10).
North Korea is making its first Summer Games appearance since 2016, after skipping the 2021 Tokyo Olympics due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. This table tennis match was North Korea's first action in Paris.
Ri and Kim, seeded 16th and last, sent Harimoto and Hayata packing after a 49-minute battle.
The Japanese tandem had been regarded as a strong gold medal threat, along with the top seed from China, Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha.
But Ri and Kim jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the opening game before winning it 11-5 in just six minutes. The teams then traded the next two games, before North Korea prevailed 15-13 in the fourth game.
The deciding game also went to deuce, and Ri and Kim finished it off at 12-10.
Lim and Shin will meet Wang and Sun in the semifinals if both teams claim their quarterfinal matches. (Yonhap)