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지나쌤

Unified Korean men's doubles team loses in semis, takes bronze

By Yonhap

Published : July 20, 2018 - 19:59

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A unified Korean men's doubles ping pong team settled for the bronze medal after losing in the semifinals of an international tournament in South Korea on Friday.

   The duo of Lee Sang-su (South Korea) and Pak Sin-hyok (North Korea) lost to Ho Kwan Kit and Wong Chun Ting of Hong Kong at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour Platinum Korea Open in Daejeon, 160 kilometers south of Seoul. The top-seeded Ho and Wong beat Lee and Pak 3-0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-8) at Chungmu Sports Arena.

   Since there is no third-place match, the losers of the semifinals will share the bronze medal.

   Earlier Friday, Lee and Pak, seeded fifth, edged out Liang Jingkun and Yan An of China 3-2 (11-9, 13-11, 3-11, 4-11, 11-7) in the quarterfinals.


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   Lee and Pak are one of four pan-Korean doubles teams assembled at this tournament. After their exit, only Jang Woo-jin (South

Korea) and Cha Hyo-sim (North Korea), who booked a spot in the mixed doubles final earlier Friday, are left standing. The mixed doubles final against Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha of China will begin at 3 p.m. Saturday.

   The other mixed doubles tandem, Choe Il (North) and Yoo Eun-chong (South), lost in the round of 16 on Thursday, as did the women's doubles team of Suh Hyo-won (South) and Kim Song-i (North).

   In the other men's doubles semifinal match, South Korea's Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon defeated Wang Chuqin and Xue Fei of China

3-1 (10-12, 11-5, 11-6, 18-16). Their final against Ho and Wong will be 3:50 p.m. Sunday.

   In the women's doubles, teams from South Korea and North Korea each got a bronze medal following losses in Friday's semifinals.

   First, it was Cha Hyo-sim and Kim Nam-hae of North Korea going down against Wang Manyu and Zhu Yuling of China by 3-0 (11-9, 15-13, 11-7). Then Jeon Ji-hee and Yang Ha-eun of South Korea were eliminated, as Chen Meng and Ding Ning of China rallied to win 3-2 (9-11, 9-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-9).  (Yonhap)