Women’s table tennis team beats Sweden to advance to the team semifinals…May face China｜Dong-A Ilbo

In the first doubles match, the “Hee-bin duo” of the same age group, Jeon Ji-hee (32) and Shin Yoo-bin (20), won easily. The two second-ranked women’s doubles players won the championship at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, bringing Korean table tennis its first Asian Games gold medal in 21 years.

Lee Eun-hye (29), who played two singles matches, also defeated Swedish player Linda Vesterom. Lee Eun-hye (44th), who has the lowest singles world ranking among Korean players, had some difficulty in defensive ping-pong with opponent ace Vesterom (32nd) at the beginning of the match, but soon found his rhythm and overwhelmed his opponent. He did not back down even in the draw in the third and fourth games. Jeon Ji-hee (15th), who returned in the third singles match, also lost to Swedish player Christina Carlberg (59th) in the first set, but eventually won the match with a comeback victory. They won two games after a close draw and changed the course of the match. The Korean team, which was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Open, has made a further step in Paris.

Earlier that day, in the men’s team round of 16 held at the same venue, South Korea (ranked 6th in the team competition) defeated Croatia (ranked 11th) 3-0 and advanced to the quarterfinals. The men’s national team will compete with the top-ranked Chinese team on the 7th for a chance to advance to the semifinals.

Paris = Reporter Kang Hong-gu Windup@donga.com