Men’s table tennis defeats Denmark to reach Busan World Championships quarterfinals
South Korea’s men’s table tennis team defeated Denmark, the “European double-header,” to advance to the quarterfinals of the BNK Busan Bank 2024 Busan World Table Tennis Championships.
Led by head coach Joo Se-hyuk, the South Korean men’s national team (ranked fifth in the world) defeated Denmark (ranked 20th in the world) 3-1 in straight sets in the quarterfinals of the tournament on Wednesday at BEXCO Busan Stadium.
The men’s team will face world No. 1 China in the semifinals on Thursday.
After winning three consecutive bronze medals from Kuala Lumpur 2016 to Chengdu 2022, the men’s team secured its fourth consecutive medal at the World Championships with the semifinals.
South Korea got off to a strong start at No. 1 singles as Lim Jong-hoon (World No. 18-Korea Exchange) defeated world No. 29 Anders Lind 3-1 (11-8 11-8 9-11 14-12).
In the last four games, he led 10-8 before conceding a deuce, but he accomplished his mission with a tight 14-12 victory.
However, the Koreans lost the balance when their trusted ace Jang Woo-jin (World No. 14) fell to Denmark’s top-ranked player Jonatan Groot (World No. 28) in a hard-fought 1-3 (9-11 9-11 11-5 3-11) match.
Fortunately, Ahn Jae-hyun (World No. 34-Korea Exchange), playing at No. 3 singles, swung the momentum back in Korea’s favor with an easy 3-0 (11-2 13-11 11-7) victory over Martin Buk Andersen (World No. 387).
In the end, it came down to a battle between Lim and Grott, who 바카라사이트 each had one win.
The left-handed battle between the two players was intense. In the early stages of the match, Grott would take the lead and Lim would follow suit. However, at 5-5, Im Jong-hoon started to take the lead at 7-5. However, three consecutive errors by Im Jong-hoon allowed him to take the lead and eventually lost the first game 9-11.
Luckily, Lim quickly evened the score by winning the second game in a deuce tiebreaker. After warming up, Lim jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the third game and went on to win 11-6.
With the momentum on his side, Lim jumped out to a 7-3 lead in game four. Despite his opponent’s comeback, he held on for an 11-8 victory to book his place in the semifinals.
With ace Jang Woo-jin suffering an unfortunate defeat, Korea secured the bronze medal on home soil thanks to Lim’s two solo wins.
