Paralympic Table Tennis Players Seo Su-yeon and Jeong Young-ah Advance to Singles Semifinals... Secure Bronze Medal

On the afternoon of the 27th, at the Tokyo Gymnasium in Japan, the women's table tennis singles (sports class 1-2) quarterfinal match of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics took place between Seo Su-yeon of South Korea and Ana Probulovic of Serbia. Seo Su-yeon is returning the ball.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Seo Soo-yeon (35, Gwangju City Hall), a silver medalist in table tennis at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, secured the first medal for the Korean team at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.

On the afternoon of the 27th, Seo Soo-yeon defeated Ana Probulovic (38, Serbia) 3-0 (11-4 11-7 11-6) in the quarterfinals of the women's table tennis singles (sports class 1-2) held at the Tokyo Gymnasium, advancing to the semifinals.

In this tournament, the table tennis singles event does not hold a match for 3rd and 4th place, awarding joint 3rd place medals; thus, reaching the semifinals guarantees a bronze medal.

The final color of Seo Soo-yeon's medal will be decided on the 28th.

Seo Soo-yeon, who dreamed of becoming a model during her school days, suffered a cervical spine injury and lower body paralysis after receiving injection treatment for posture correction at a hospital in 2004. She started playing table tennis in 2006 upon encouragement from those around her and began her career as a para table tennis player. Due to aftereffects of the accident, her hand strength is weak, so she wraps her racket and hand with bandages during matches.

Seo Soo-yeon became a national team member in 2013 and won a silver medal at the 2014 Incheon Asian Para Games. She also won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

Jung Young-ah (42) also advanced to the semifinals by defeating Panwas Singam (20, Thailand) 3-1 (10-12 11-9 11-5 11-7) in the women's table tennis singles (sports class 5) quarterfinals, securing a bronze medal.

Players participating in Paralympic table tennis are classified by sports classes into physical disabilities (classes 1?10) and intellectual disabilities (class 11). Physical disabilities are further divided into wheelchair users (classes 1?5) and standing players (classes 6?10).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.