The mixed doubles team of world No. 1 Im Jong-hoon (Korea Exchange) and Shin Yu-bin (Korean Air) secured a spot in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. They started their campaign smoothly, winning both matches without dropping a game.
Im and Shin faced Kazakhstan's Iskender Kharki and Sarvinoz Mirkadirova in the round of 16 on September 23 at the Aichi Sky Hall Toyota, winning decisively with a score of 3-0 (11-5, 11-4, 11-6). Earlier in the day, they had defeated Qatar's Ahussein Mohammed and Mohammed Aiah in just 15 minutes, also with a score of 3-0 (11-3, 11-5, 11-5).
The duo, who won a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, has consistently performed well in international competitions, including the World Table Tennis (WTT) Finals last year, which helped them achieve the top ranking in mixed doubles. They continued their winning streak this year, claiming titles at the WTT Star Contender in Ljubljana in June and the U.S. Smash in July.
In the previous 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, they fell short in the semifinals against China's Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha, earning a bronze medal. This time, they aim to surpass that performance and secure Korea's first gold medal in mixed doubles at the Asian Games. Their next opponents in the quarterfinals will be Taiwan's Lin Win-lu and Cheng Yi-ching.
Meanwhile, the team of Oh Jun-sung (Korea Exchange) and Kim Na-young (POSCO International) faced disappointment as they were eliminated. After defeating an Indonesian team 3-1 in the round of 32, they lost a closely contested match against Japan's Matsushima Sora and Harimoto Miwa in the round of 16, with a score of 2-3 (11-9, 5-11, 11-9, 6-11, 12-14).
Additionally, the Korean table tennis teams will compete for a spot in the finals against Japan in the team events later today. The men's team will play at 5 p.m., followed by the women's team at 7:30 p.m.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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