"An Olympic medal after 16 years!" South Korea's 15-year-old table tennis rising star Lee Seung-soo delivers! Blocked by Japanese rival, but defeats Hong Kong to claim a valuable bronze medal

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Lee Seung-soo (Daejeon Dongsan Middle School), a 15-year-old promising talent in South Korean table tennis, wrote a new history in Africa. Although he lost to his Japanese rival and failed to advance to the final, he secured a dramatic victory in the bronze medal match, bringing a Youth Olympic Games medal to South Korean table tennis for the first time in 16 years.

On the 6th (Korean time), Lee defeated Hong Kong's Ricky Ho by a game score of 4-2 (11-8, 11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 15-17, 15-13) in the bronze medal match for men's singles at the 2026 4th Dakar Youth Olympic Games held at the Expo Center (DEX) in Dakar, Senegal.

It has been a full 16 years since South Korean table tennis last won a medal at the Summer Youth Olympics, following the inaugural event in Singapore in 2010. At that time, the Kim Dong-hyun-Yang Ha-eun pair won a silver medal in the mixed team event, and Yang Ha-eun won a bronze medal in women's singles. However, no additional medals were added at the 2014 Nanjing and 2018 Buenos Aires Games.

The path to Lee Seung-soo's bronze medal was not easy either. After passing Group 3 of the preliminaries with an undefeated record as the top seed, Lee defeated France's Noah Vittel 4-3 in a tight five-game battle in the round of 16. He then beat Turkey's Goerkem Ozal 4-1 in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals.

However, he lost 2-4 to Japan's Kawakami Ryusei in the semifinal held on the 5th. Kawakami is a rival who has faced Lee Seung-soo multiple times on the international stage. Prior to this tournament, Lee's head-to-head record against him was 3 wins and 5 losses, and they split their two meetings last year with one win each.

The semifinal also featured a fierce contest. After dropping the first game 6-11, Lee took the second game 20-18 after deuce. Following a loss in the third game, he dominated the fourth game 11-2 to even the score. However, he lost the final two games in a row, ending his hopes of reaching the final.

In the bronze medal match, he maintained his focus until the very end. Lee took the first three games in a row against Hong Kong's Ricky Ho to secure an advantageous position. However, after dropping the fourth game 8-11, he also lost the fifth game 15-17 after deuce.

The sixth game, reached without a decisive outcome, continued as a close contest. In a 13-13 deuce situation, Lee took the last two points in a row to win 15-13, securing a valuable bronze medal.

This achievement was not an abrupt result. Lee is a promising player who has long proven his competitiveness against strong peers from Japan and Taiwan on the international stage.

At the World Table Tennis (WTT) Youth Contender held in Gangneung in May 2024, he reached the top of the Under-15 men's singles category. At the time, Japanese and Taiwanese players were notably dominant, with South Korean players winning in only two out of all 12 events, but Lee defeated Japanese promising talents consecutively to claim the championship.

In December last year, he also participated in a joint training camp for invited top European youth players held in Jeju. He gained experience with various playing styles against promising talents from Europe, including Germany and France, enhancing his international competitiveness.

In July this year, he grew to another level. At the 30th Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships held in Thailand, he defeated Japan's Ono Soma 4-2 in the Under-15 men's singles final to win a gold medal.

At that time, Lee's gold medal was the only medal won by the South Korean team in individual events and the only gold medal of the entire tournament. He also contributed to winning a silver medal in the men's U-15 team event, drawing attention as the next-generation ace of South Korean table tennis.

In particular, Daejeon Dongsan Middle School, where Lee belongs, is a powerhouse in domestic middle school table tennis. At the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister's Cup National Student Category Table Tennis Tournament held last August, the school achieved an 8th consecutive title in the boys' middle school team event, even with Lee absent due to international competition participation. The school has consistently produced promising talents, including being selected for the Best Team Award presented by the Korea Table Tennis Association this year.

Following his top finish at the Asian Youth Championships, Lee Seung-soo stood on the podium at the Youth Olympics as well, leaving another international tournament achievement. Meanwhile, Heo Ye-rim (Hwaseong City Corporation), who competed in women's singles, passed Group 7 of the preliminaries with an undefeated record as the top seed, but suffered a comeback loss 2-4 (7-11, 11-2, 11-8, 5-11, 10-12, 8-11) to Poland's Katarzyna Rajkowska in the round of 16.

Heo Ye-rim defeated Singapore's Roy Mingying, who won a silver medal at this tournament, in the preliminaries, but unfortunately was eliminated in her first tournament match. The mixed doubles event featuring Lee Seung-soo and Heo Ye-rim ended in the quarterfinals. They consecutively defeated the Brazil and Puerto Rico pairs, but lost to Taiwan's Lin Chin-ting-Chen Min-shin pair, failing to win a medal.

The men's singles gold medal went to Kawakami, who defeated Colombia's Emanuel Otabaro 4-2 in the final. Kawakami also won the mixed doubles with Matsushima Miku, claiming a double crown at the tournament. In women's singles, Taiwan's Chen Min-shin reached the top. The South Korean table tennis team, led by Kim Won-geun, full-time coach of the future national team, concluded the tournament with one bronze medal in men's singles won by Lee Seung-soo.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original