Piyak is back as a women’s table tennis ace with Shin Yubin

The youngest player at the Tokyo Olympics is now a grown-up ace, aiming for Asian Games gold. This is the story of Shin Yubin (Korean Air), the poster child of Korean women’s table tennis.

Shin Yubin has long had a strong image as a prodigy. As a child, she appeared on TV shows such as “Stocking” and “Infinite Challenge” as a genius girl who loved table tennis, leaving a strong impression as a child who loved table tennis.

In the qualifying round for the team event at the Tokyo Olympics in January 2020, she stepped up to the next level and helped South Korea qualify for the main event. Although she didn’t win a medal, her confident play and quirky interviews during the tournament made her a star, and she became the next big thing in Korean table tennis.

Two years later, Shin Yubin is no longer a prodigy or an up-and-comer, but the most anticipated face of the Korean national table tennis team.

His path to the Asian Games has been dramatic.

Shin suffered a stress fracture in his wrist at the 2021 World Table Tennis Championships and went down. He immediately tried to rehabilitate, but the same area recurred and he ended up on the operating table. It was a difficult time for her, as she had to give up her national team selection for the Asian Games.

However, when the Asian Games were postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, Shin Yubin was given a chance, and she seized it.

After being away from the table for nearly a year, Shin focused on lower-body training to build up her game muscles and came back stronger and more mature than before her injury. “Even when I was resting, I was always thinking about table tennis,” she says, and her determination helped her through the grueling rehabilitation.

Experts say she has noticeably improved her agility and ability to handle situations.

Shin ‘upgraded’ after strong medal haul.

At the World Table Tennis Championships in Durban in May, Shin Yubin became the first Korean woman in 36 years to reach the final of the women’s doubles event, winning a silver medal alongside her ‘batchmate duo’ Jeon Ji-hee (Mirae Asset Securities).

She then swept the women’s singles and doubles titles at the WTT Contender Lagos in June and the Contender Zagreb in August to experience a ‘taste of normalcy’. Confidence and momentum soar

At the Asian Games, Shin will compete in all the events she is eligible for: women’s singles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles, and the women’s team event. She is ranked No. 1 in the world in women’s doubles and No. 3 in mixed doubles with Lim Jong-hoon (KEPCO), both of whom are within striking distance of a medal. In the women’s doubles, her pairing with Jeon Jeon-hee is considered the strongest in Korean table tennis.

Shin’s biggest opponent will be China, the reigning world champions and home team, but she is confident.메이저사이트

“I’ve been playing a lot of tournaments recently, and I’ve learned a lot from them. If we can make up for our shortcomings, we will have a good result against China,” said Shin.

“I want to achieve the best results in every event,” she said of her first Asian Games. “It’s been a difficult journey to get here, so I’ll try to play a game that I don’t regret.