'Even the world No. 1 Japan was defeated' — A rebellion by Korea's table tennis future! Silver and two bronzes at the Asian Championships... China sweeps four titles, Japan takes three

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The Korean national table tennis team, with its core players largely absent, harvested one silver medal and two bronze medals at the Asian Championships. In particular, the men's team defeated Japan, which fielded world-class players, to win a team event silver medal for the first time in seven years, achieving results that exceeded expectations.

Korea claimed the silver medal in the men's team event, the bronze medal in the women's team event, and the bronze medal in mixed doubles at the 29th International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF)-Asian Table Tennis Union (ATTU) Asian Table Tennis Championships held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, from the 19th to the 25th.

At this tournament, China and Japan split the gold medals across seven events. China topped the podium in four events: the men's team event, women's singles, and mixed doubles. Japan won three titles by claiming victory in the women's team event, men's singles, and mixed doubles.

Despite the absence of some of its top-ranked players, including Wang Chuqin, Sun Yingsha, and Wang Manyu, China took home four gold medals. With its main players largely participating, Japan saw Harimoto Tomokazu defeat China's Li Tianyang to win the men's singles title. In mixed doubles as well, the Matsushima Sora-Harimoto Miwa pair overcame China's Huang Yuting-Chen Yi pair.

Korea's biggest achievement was in the men's team event. With existing core players such as Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon absent, Korea assembled its national team centered on next-in-line players from the May selection tournament. Although the players had relatively limited international experience, they crushed India 3-0 in the quarterfinals before pulling off an upset by defeating Japan 3-1 in the semifinals.

In particular, the performance of defender Kang Dong-soo (Samsung Life) stood out. Kang consecutively defeated Japan's Shinohara Hiroto and Harimoto Tomokazu to lead the team into the final. Park Gyu-hyun (Mirae Asset Securities) also crushed Matsushima Sora, ranked No. 1 in the world, 3-0.

In the final, Korea lost to China 0-3 but secured a men's team event silver medal for the first time in seven years since the 2019 Yogyakarta tournament in Indonesia. Korea had previously won the title at the 2021 Doha tournament in Qatar, where China did not participate.

The women's team also defeated India 3-0 in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals. Although they lost to China 0-3 in the semifinals, they secured a bronze medal for the second consecutive year.

In individual events, the Park Gyu-hyun-Park Ga-hyun (Korean Air) pair added a bronze medal in mixed doubles. The two players recorded a 3-2 comeback victory over the Hong Kong pair of Veteran Wong Chun Ting and Doi Kem in the quarterfinals. They lost to China's Huang Yuting-Chen Yi pair 1-3 in the semifinals, failing to advance to the final, but secured a medal.

The Park Kang-hyun (Mirae Asset Securities)-Lee Da-eun (Korea Racing Authority) pair also advanced to the quarterfinals. Korea secured qualification for the 2027 World Table Tennis Championships in mixed doubles with both participating pairs.

In men's and women's singles, one player from each gender advanced to the quarterfinals. Park Kang-hyun defeated Iran's Benjamin Faraji to reach the quarterfinals in men's singles but lost to China's Wen Ruibo. Lee Da-eun also consecutively defeated China's Shu Yinao and Thailand's Orawan Paranan in women's singles before losing to Japan's Harimoto Miwa, ending her run at the semifinals stage.

Kang Dong-soo crushed China's Zhou Chihao 3-0 in the men's singles round of 32. He faced the opponent who had defeated him in the men's team event final earlier and took revenge without dropping a single game in the individual event. As a result, Korea secured a total of seven World Championships singles qualification slots: three in men's singles and four in women's singles.

In men's and women's doubles, no additional medals were won, but qualification was secured through placement matches. The Kim Min-hyuk (Korea Water Resources Corporation)-Park Gyu-hyun pair defeated the Singaporean pair in men's doubles, while the Lee Si-on-Yu Si-woo (both Hwaseong City Corporation) pair and the Lee Da-eun-Park Ga-hyun pair each overcame the Singaporean and Philippine pairs, respectively.

This tournament also served as the Asian qualifying round for the individual events at next year's World Table Tennis Championships. Additional qualification criteria are applied based on regional preliminary results, minimum guaranteed slots for five Asian regions, and world rankings. Considering the qualifications secured at this tournament and the possibility of future additional allocations, Korea is expected to fill all permitted entries per event at next year's World Championships.

However, the qualifications earned at this tournament are allocated to the nation rather than individual players. The Korean Table Tennis Association plans to hold a separate national team selection tournament targeting its first-division reserve players ahead of next year's World Championships.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original