(Olympics) S. Korea advances to semifinals in women’s table tennis team event

South Korea advanced to the semifinals of the women’s table tennis team event at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, moving within a win of grabbing its first medal in this event in 16 years.

Shin Yu-bin, Jeon Ji-hee and Lee Eun-hye lifted South Korea past Sweden 3-0 in the quarterfinals of the team competition at South Paris Arena 4, after winning the first doubles match and then the next two singles matches.

In Thursday’s semifinals, South Korea will play the winner of the quarterfinal match Wednesday between China and Chinese Taipei. World No. 1 China will be favored against Chinese Taipei as it boasts the world’s top three singles players: Sun Yingsha, Chen Meng and Wang Manyu.

Shin is the top-ranked South Korean player at No. 7.

“It doesn’t matter who we’ll face. I will do my best and make sure I won’t have regrets at the end,” Shin said. “Thanks to my teammates, I will get to play in the semifinals of the team event. I am grateful for this opportunity. I will trust my teammates and give it my best shot.”

If South Korea loses in the semifinals, it will fall to the bronze medal match against the other semifinal loser.

The women’s team event made its first Olympic appearance in 2008, and China has won every gold medal so far. Sun, Chen and Wang won the 2021 gold medal together in Tokyo.

South Korea hasn’t won a medal since taking home bronze in 2008.

Sweden, world No. 15, had upset sixth-ranked Hong Kong in the round of 16 on Monday. But the Europeans didn’t even win a match against South Korea.

Shin and Jeon, world No. 2 pair in the women’s doubles, easily beat Filippa Bergand and Christina Kallberg 3-0 (11-2, 11-7, 11-5) in the opening doubles match.

Shin and Jeon jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the first game before taking it 11-2. The Swedes went up 5-1 to start the second game, before the South Koreans fought back to win it 11-7.

Shin and Jeon were hardly threatened in the third game as they gave South Korea a 1-0 lead.

In the next singles match, Lee defeated Linda Bergstrom 3-1 (2-11, 11-4, 12-10, 13-11). Lee had some trouble handling spin from the Swedish chopper early on, but won the final three games to put South Korea up 2-0.

In the fourth game, Lee survived two game points to win 13-11.

Jeon and Kallberg squared off in the third singles match. Jeon conceded the first game but promptly regained control the rest of the way for a 3-1 (8-11, 13-11, 11-6, 11-7) win. Jeon quickly turned a 5-4 deficit into a 10-5 lead in the fourth game before closing out Sweden at 11-7.

Women’s head coach Oh Kwang-hun contemplated switching things up, and replacing Shin with Lee as the doubles partner for Jeon.

That way, Lee would avoid facing Bergstrom, considered the best singles player for Sweden whose defensive style could give the inexperienced Lee fits.

Oh decided to stick with his best doubles combination and trust Lee to stand her ground.

And Lee came through with the key singles victory after overcoming some early hiccups. After clinching her win, Lee went down on her knees and prayed — the kind of celebration usually reserved for medals.

“I really wanted that win. That celebration just came to me automatically,” Lee said. “I lost the first game but I tried to put that out of my mind quickly. I was able to manage my game well the rest of the way.”

Lee thanked her two teammates for putting up an easy win on the board out of the gate.

“After they won the first doubles match with such ease, I went out for my match with confidence,” Lee said.

Jeon, who is competing at her third straight Summer Games at age 31, said she would like nothing more than to cap her Olympic career with her first medal.

“This is just starting. I don’t want to look back now because it hurts. I just want to keep looking forward and feel hopeful that I can have a happy ending,” Jeon said. “This is really my last Olympics. I want to have a cool finish.”