The South Korean men's table tennis team was unable to overcome the host nation Japan, finishing the tournament with a bronze medal.
The team lost to Japan 0-3 in the semifinals of the men's team event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held on September 23 at the Toyota Sky Hall in Aichi Prefecture. There is no third-place match in the team event, so Korea secured the bronze medal. This continues their streak of consecutive medals in men's team events since the 1986 Seoul Games.
The first match featured Jang Woo-jin (SeAH) against Japan's Matsushima Sora. After losing the first two games, Jang mounted a comeback by winning the third game 11-6, but he could not turn the tide completely. He lost the fourth game 8-11, resulting in a match score of 1-3.
In the second singles match, Ahn Jae-hyun (Korea Exchange) faced Harimoto Tomokazu. Ahn lost the first game in a close duel, 10-12, and fell behind 5-11 in the second game. Although he took an early lead in the third game, he allowed a late comeback, losing 9-11. Korea was down 0-2 in match score.
The youngest player, Oh Joon-sung (Korea Exchange), continued the fight until the end. He faced Dogami Shunsuke, winning the first game 11-7 but then losing the next two games. In the fourth game, he won a tense duel 12-10, pushing the match to the final game.
In the fifth game, Oh was competitive against Dogami, briefly leading 8-6, but ultimately lost 9-11. With a match score of 2-3, Korea's hopes for a final berth were dashed.
Japan fielded a lineup of world-class players for this tournament, with Matsushima and Harimoto ranked third and fourth in the world, respectively, while Dogami is ranked 13th. Jang Woo-jin is the highest-ranked player for Korea at 11th.
Korea had previously reached the finals in the men's team event at the 2022 Hangzhou Games, where they lost to China and took home a silver medal. Their streak of consecutive silver medals since the 1994 Hiroshima Games ended with this defeat to Japan. However, Oh's performance against a top Japanese player showcased Korea's competitiveness as they look ahead to the remaining individual events.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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