[Paris Olympics] 'Ppiyaki' Shin Yubin Falls Short of Final... Aiming for Bronze Medal

Sun Yingxia Faces Hayata in Semifinal Losers Clash
Challenge for First Women's Singles Bronze in 20 Years

Korean women's table tennis ace Shin Yubin (Korean Air) aimed for the 2024 Paris Olympic women's singles final but was stopped by the formidable Chen Meng (China) and will head to the bronze medal match with regret.

On the 2nd (local time), after the women's singles table tennis semifinal match at the 2024 Paris Olympics held at South Paris Arena in Paris, South Korea's Shin Yubin is shaking hands with China's Chen Meng.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 2nd, in the semifinals held at the South Paris Arena in Paris, France, Shin Yubin was completely defeated 0-4 (7-11 6-11 7-11 7-11) by Chen Meng, who won two gold medals at the 2020 Tokyo Games. With the final berth lost, Shin Yubin will aim for a bronze medal through the third-place match held at the same venue at 8:30 PM on the 3rd. Had she won the semifinal, she would have become the first Korean female player to reach the Olympic final stage, but her dream of making new history was unfortunately dashed by Chen Meng.

Shin Yubin previously won a bronze medal in mixed doubles with Lim Jonghoon (Korea Exchange) at this tournament.

If Shin Yubin wins her last singles match and takes the bronze, she will be recorded as the first female singles medalist in 20 years since Kim Kyungah, who won bronze at the 2004 Athens Games. Her opponent in the third-place match will be the loser of the semifinal between world No. 1 Sun Yingsha (China) and Hayata Hina (Japan). Currently, it seems highly likely to be Hayata. After a fierce 1 hour and 20 minute battle to defeat Hirano Miu in the quarterfinals, Shin Yubin is expected to face a fate-deciding Korea-Japan match again in the bronze medal match.

Chen Meng, who pushed Shin Yubin to the bronze medal match today, was the dominant player through the mid to late 2010s and is the defending champion who won two gold medals in singles and team events at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

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