Shin Yu-bin of South Korea plays a shot against Sofia Polcanova of Austria during their round of 32 match in the women’s singles at the World Table Tennis Champions event at Inspire Arena in Incheon, west of Seoul, on March 27, 2024, in this photo provided by the event organizing committee. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Mar. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — With two days in the books for the first World Table Tennis (WTT) Champions competition in South Korea, most of the players from the host country have already been sent packing, with more expected to join them on the outside Friday.
In the women’s singles, Jeon Ji-hee is the only South Korean player to have won the opening match and reached the round of 16. Shin Yu-bin, the country’s top-ranked female player at world No. 7, suffered a 3-2 loss to Sofia Polcanova of Austria in the round of 32 on Wednesday, the first day of the competition. Three other South Koreans were also eliminated in the opening round.
Jeon, world No. 20, is scheduled to face world No. 8 Mima Ito later Friday.
Jeon Ji-hee of South Korea (R) celebrates her point against Jia Nan Yuan of France during their round of 32 match in the women’s singles at the World Table Tennis Champions event at Inspire Arena in Incheon, west of Seoul, on March 27, 2024, in this photo provided by the event organizing committee. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
The situation is slightly better on the men’s side, with four out of five players having reached the round of 16. But a couple of them could face their own elimination Friday.
Of the quartet, Lim Jong-hoon, ranked 21st, has the toughest assignment, as he will face world No. 4 Ma Long on Friday night.
Oh Jun-sung, the 17-year-old ranked 46th, will face No. 9 player from Japan, Tomokazu Harimoto, later Friday, too.
Jang Woo-jin, South Korea’s top male player at world No. 12, will play sixth-ranked Lin Yun-ju on Friday night.
Jang Woo-jin of South Korea plays a shot against An Jae-hyun of South Korea during their round of 32 match in the men’s singles at the World Table Tennis Champions event at Inspire Arena in Incheon, west of Seoul, on March 28, 2024, in this photo provided by the event organizing committee. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
The western city of Incheon is hosting the country’s first WTT series event. It will end Sunday with the men’s and women’s singles champions each taking home US$15,000 and collecting 1,000 world ranking points.
WTT is an entity created by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) in 2019 to run commercialized table tennis tournaments, including the WTT Grand Smash, WTT Star Contenders, WTT Contenders and WTT Champions.
Inspire Arena, near Incheon International Airport, is the venue for the competition. This is the first sports event being held there.
(Yonhap)
