Women's table tennis team take bronze after 3-1 loss to Japan

Korea's Shin Yu-bin competes in the semifinal against Japan at the Hangzhou Asian Games at Gongshu Canal Sports Park Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China on Monday. [NEWS1]

The Korean women’s table tennis team secured a bronze medal after a 3-1 loss to Japan in the semifinals at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Monday, losing a chance to reach their first final in 33 years.

In the Asian Games, there is no third-place match with the two losing teams from the semifinals both earning a bronze.

Korea’s Jeon Ji-hee, Suh Hyo-won, Shin Yu-bin went up against Hirano Miu, Harimoto Miwa and Hataya Hina in the semifinal at Gongshu Canal Sports Park Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China.

Korea was off to a shaky start, with Shin losing the team’s first match 3-0 to Hina.

Shin passed the baton to Jeon and she bounced back for the team, winning the second match 3-2 against Miu.

But Suh failed to ride that momentum, suffering a 3-0 loss in the third match against Miwa after losing the three games 11-6, 12-10 and 11-5.

With the total score at 2-1, it came down to whether Shin could make Korea stay alive with a victory over Miu in the fourth match, but she lost it 3-1 for a final score of 3-1 against Korea.

The loss still gave Korea a bronze medal. It is the Korean women’s team’s second consecutive bronze medal after a bronze in the 2018 Asiad.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]