Im Jong-hoon (Korea Exchange) and Shin Yu-bin (Korean Air) advanced to the semifinals of the mixed doubles event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, securing a bronze medal after a hard-fought victory over Taiwan.
The world No. 1 mixed doubles pair defeated the world No. 10 duo of Lin Yun-ru and Cheng I-ching from Taiwan with a score of 3-2 in the quarterfinals held on September 25 at the Sky Hall Toyota in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
With this win, Im and Shin guaranteed at least a bronze medal. In Asian Games table tennis, there is no separate third-place match; both losing teams in the semifinals receive bronze medals. This marks the second consecutive mixed doubles medal for the pair, following their success at the previous Hangzhou Asian Games.
Unlike their earlier matches, the quarterfinals proved to be a challenging contest. Im and Shin had previously won their round of 32 and round of 16 matches against Qatar and Kazakhstan, respectively, both with a score of 3-0, but faced a tougher battle against Taiwan.
After winning the first game 11-7, the Korean pair fell behind 8-10 in the second game but managed to tie it at 10-10. However, they lost the game 10-12 after conceding two consecutive points. They regained the lead by winning the third game but lost the fourth game 5-11, bringing the match score to 2-2.
In the decisive fifth game, Korea took an early lead at 5-2, but Taiwan closed the gap to 10-10. In the deuce, Korea secured the win with two successful rallies, finishing the game 12-10.
This victory adds to Korea's medal tally in table tennis, following medals in both men's and women's team events. Shin Yu-bin has now secured her second medal of the tournament, having previously won a bronze in the women's team event. She redeemed herself in mixed doubles after the disappointment of losing in the semifinals to Japan.
The duo's next challenge will be against China's Lin Shidong and Qai Man in the semifinals. Although Im and Shin have a record of 1 win and 3 losses against them, they recently triumphed in their last encounter. In December of last year, they defeated the then-world No. 1 pair of Lin and Qai 3-1 in the semifinals of the World Table Tennis (WTT) Finals held in Hong Kong.
In that tournament, Im and Shin also won the final against China's Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha with a score of 3-0, and Wang and Sun are also competing in the semifinals of this tournament from the opposite bracket.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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