'Yoo Si-woo and Lee Da-eun both lost!' Junior Park Ga-hyun secures last spot on 2026 AG South Korean table tennis national team

*This content was translated by AI.

Junior player Park Ga-hyun (Korean Air) has secured the final spot on the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games national team.

The Korea Table Tennis Association held the second round of the selection tournament for the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games and the Asian Table Tennis Championships at the Jin Cheon-guk-ga (CEO) athlete village on the 29th.

Participants in the selection tournament on this day included first-division national team players, excluding those who advanced from the first round held on the 20th and those automatically selected, competing for the final Nam Eun (CEO) spot.

In the women's division, Park Ga-hyun passed the final hurdle. After defeating Yoo Ye-rin (POSCO International) 3-0 in the quarterfinals, Park went on to beat Yoo Si-woo (Hwaseong City Corporation) 3-0 in the semifinals to reach the final.

On the other side, Lee Da-eun defeated Kim Seo-yoon (Mirae Asset Securities), a first-round qualifier, 3-1 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Lee overcame Lee Si-on (Korea Table Tennis Association) in a closely contested match that went the full five games, winning 3-2 to advance to the final.

In the final, Park Ga-hyun defeated Lee Da-eun 3-1 to claim the championship. Park was selected as a member of the Asian Games national team alongside Shin Yu-bin (Korean Air), Ju Cheon-hee (Samsung Life), Kim Na-young (POSCO International), and Lee Eun-hye (Korean Air).

Still a junior player, Park Ga-hyun will once again challenge herself on a senior international major stage, following her participation in the World Table Tennis Championships in London.

Runner-up Lee Da-eun also earned the national team jersey. Since Ju Cheon-hee, a naturalized player on the Asian Games team, does not meet the qualification criteria for the Asian Championships, an additional representative was selected for the women's division for the Asian Championships. Lee Da-eun, who finished second in the tournament, became that representative.

In the men's division, Park Gyu-hyun emerged as the final winner. Park defeated Jang Han-jae (Korea Army), a first-round qualifier, 3-2 in the quarterfinals, then crushed Kang Dong-soo (Samsung Life) 3-0 in the semifinals to reach the final.

On the other side, Im Yu-no (Korea Army) defeated Kim Jang-won (Seah) 3-0 to advance to the semifinals. He then overcame Kim Min-hyeok (Korea Water Resources Corporation) 3-1 to secure his spot in the final. In the final, Park Gyu-hyun defeated Im Yu-no 3-1 to claim the championship.

With this victory, Park Gyu-hyun will join the already confirmed representatives Jang Woo-jin (Seah), Im Jong-hoon, Ahn Jae-hyun, and Oh Jun-seong (all from Korea Exchange) for the Asian Games and Asian Championships national team.

This completes the roster for the South Korean table tennis team, which will compete in the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, this September, and the 2026 Asian Table Tennis Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in October.

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*This content was translated by AI.