The South Korean women’s table tennis team couldn’t get past China.
Shin Yoo-bin, Jeon Jeon-hee and Lee Sion suffered a 0-3 match point loss to China in the quarterfinals of the BNK Busan Bank 2024 Busan World Table Tennis Championships at the Bexco Special Stadium in Busan on Wednesday.
The women’s team, playing in its first-ever World Championships in South Korea, failed to qualify for the podium after 12 years since winning bronze in Dortmund in 2012.
The quarterfinalists of the tournament will qualify for the team competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, so Korea will have to settle for that.
Earlier in the tournament, South Korea advanced to the round of 16 as the top team in their group with Malaysia, Italy, Puerto Rico, and Cuba, winning all four matches. In the round of 16, they defeated Brazil 3-1 on aggregate to advance to the quarterfinals.
However, they had to turn around after failing to defeat China, the 22-time defending world champions in the women’s team event.
South Korea started with Lee Sion in the first singles. She faced off against Chinese ace Sun Yingxia. Despite hoping for an upset against No. 1 Sun Yingxia, the 44th-ranked South Korean was unable to capitalize 토토 and lost 0-3 (1-11 5-11 1-11).
In the second singles, Jeon Jeon-hee and Chen Heng faced off, but they also lost 0-3 (5-11 7-11 9-11).
Shin Yubin then took on world No. 2 Wang Yidi in the final third singles match looking for her first win of the tournament, but she also fell 0-3 (5-11 3-11 10-12) to seal Korea’s elimination.
The winner of the match, China, will face France, who upset Germany on Wednesday, in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, the South Korean men’s table tennis team, led by head coach Joo Se-hyuk, will take on Denmark in the quarterfinals at 10 a.m. on Nov. 23. A win would set up a semifinal match against China on Nov. 24.
