World No. 3 pair Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon have secured a bronze medal in the men’s doubles at the World Table Tennis Championships.
Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon advanced to the semifinals with a 3-0 (11-4 12-10 11-7) victory over Nándor Eseki-Adam Sudi (Hungary스포츠토토) in the Men’s Doubles Quarterfinals at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships 2023 at the International Convention Center in Durban, South Africa, on Friday.
Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon took the first game comfortably, 11-4.
The next two games were tense. Down three points at 7-7 and facing game point, Jang and Lim converted three points for a deuce. The duo tied up their opponent’s error to win the game.
At the end of the third game, Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon reached match point thanks to an unforced error. Jang Woo-jin’s attack was successful and the match ended.
[SEOUL, South Korea] Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon. 2023.05.25. (Photo courtesy of the Korea Table Tennis Association) *Resale and DB prohibited.
Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon secured the men’s doubles bronze medal. The bronze medal will be awarded to the loser of the quarterfinal match as there will be no third or fourth place match at this tournament. Earlier, the women’s doubles team of Jeon Jeon-hee and Shin Yubin secured the bronze medal after winning their quarterfinal match.
The pair of Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon secured at least a bronze medal after winning silver at the previous edition in Houston, USA, in 2021. The silver medal in Houston was Korea’s best result in men’s doubles at a World Championships.
“Even though we were losing, we didn’t give up and we were able to play steadily until the end, so we were able to induce our opponents’ errors,” said Lim Jong-hoon in his post-match interview, “and when they made errors, we were able to take advantage of the opportunities and win the match.”
“I’m happy to be in the quarterfinals, but now I’ll prepare for the semifinals tomorrow,” Lim said, “I don’t know who my opponent will be, but I’ll do my best to prepare for tomorrow’s game.”