Kim Young-gun wins silver in men's table tennis

Kim Young-gun receives the ball in the men's singles class four gold medal match against Abdullah Ozturk of Turkey at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo on Monday. [NEWS1]

Kim Young-gun won silver in men's singles class four table tennis on Monday, losing to Abdullah Ozturk of Turkey in the gold medal game at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo.

The gold medal clash between world No. 2 Kim and world No. 1 Ozturk was always going to be a good match, and neither player disappointed on Monday. Kim won the first game 11-9, before dropping the next two 11-6, 11-7. Kim rallied for the fourth game, level-pegging with Ozturk until the final few points of the game, when the Turkish player pulled ahead to take it 12-10 and win the match 3-1.

Kim's medal is the Korean table tennis team's 10th at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, and its third silver. Earlier in the day, Joo Young-dae won Korea's first gold, beating teammate Kim Hyeon-uk in the men's singles class one gold medal match.

There are 11 classes in Paralympic table tennis. All of the Korean athletes that medaled on Saturday were competing in wheelchair classes, ranging from class one, for athletes with no sitting balance and a severely affected playing arm, to class five, for athletes who compete in a wheelchair but have full sitting balance and playing arm functionality.

Class four, which Kim competes in, includes athletes with existing, but unstable, sitting balance.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]