South Korea’s top-ranked female table tennis player, Shin Yoo-bin (Korean Air – World No. 7), eased into the round of 16 at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Champions Chongqing.
Shin Yoo-bin defeated Romanian ace Bernadette Sötz (World No. 9) in straight games in the first round of 32 women’s singles match at the WTT Champions in Chongqing, China, on Wednesday (Jan. 31).
Shin entered the WTT Champions in China just five days after winning the mixed doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender Rio de Janeiro with partner Lim Jong-hoon, defeating Japanese pair Tomogazu Harimoto-Hayata Hinazo. In a star-studded event featuring only players ranked in the top 30 in both the men’s and women’s world rankings, Shin Yubin put on a dazzling display that belied the fact that he had traveled halfway around the world to compete.
Game 1, Sötz blocked a backhand to win 11-8. In game two, Shin’s clever mid-court strategy kept Sock stuck in a rut. At every juncture, Shin unleashed powerful forehand drives and never lost the rally, short game, tempo, or handball battle. He won the deuce game to take a 12-10 lead and the match 2-0. In game three, Shin Yoo-bin took a 5-3 lead and the Sockets’ bench called a timeout, but Shin continued her momentum and extended the lead to 8-4. At 8-5, Coach Ham So-ri from the bench called a timeout and asked the team to try different things instead of trying to 카지노 finish quickly or just doing what they were good at. Shin’s confident play continued and he scored the next three points to seal the 11-5 victory. The 3-0 victory in 26 minutes was enough to quickly advance to the Round of 16.
She will face the winner of the Nina Mittelhamm (GER)-Orawan Paranang (THA) match on Day 1 for a spot in the quarterfinals.
“My opponent is a good player, so I prepared well, and I’m happy that I was able to show it in the match,” Shin said after the match. When asked about his preparation for the round of 16, he said, “No matter who comes up, they are both good and difficult players. I think I will have to focus more on myself than my opponent to prepare.” Chinese table tennis fans cheered at the cute smile of the ‘world-class pouty’ Xin Yubin.