Lee Eun-hye (Korean Air) has earned the final spot on the women’s table tennis team for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Lee Eun-hye topped the national selection trials for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which concluded at the Jincheon Athletes’ Village on Wednesday.
Combining the results of the first round on Nov. 21-22 and the second round on Nov. 23, Lee took the top spot with 16 points after winning all eight matches.
Yang Ha-eun (13-5, 3-3, Fosco International), Lee Sion (12-4, 4-4, Samsung Life), and Kim Na-young (10-2, 6-6, Fosco International) finished in second through fourth place, respectively.
Lee will now join Shin Yoo-bin (Korean Air) and Jeon Jeon-hee (Mirae Asset Securities) in Paris to challenge for a medal.
Lee, like Jeon, is a naturalized Chinese athlete.
Born in Hebei province, Lee is known as the protégé of former coach Yang Young-ja, who was a missionary in Mongolia.
After playing in Inner Mongolia, she was discovered by Yang and naturalized in South Korea in 2011.
She joined Korean Air in 2013 after playing for Danwon High School, the strongest team in the girls’ high school division at the time, and has been playing for more than a decade.
Lee has been on a steep rise since 2022.
In January of that year, she won the singles title at the Korean National Championships, the country’s most prestigious event, and continued to represent her country from the Pyeongchang Asian Championships in September 2023 to the Hangzhou Asian Games and this year’s World Championships in Busan.
With the Korea Table Tennis Association (KTA) automatically selecting the top 30 players in the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) singles world rankings for the Olympics, Eun-hye has been competing in World Table Tennis (WTT) events since the Busan World Championships and has improved her world ranking.
Although she did not make it into the top 30 (39th), she seized her last chance at selection and realized her dream of playing in her first Olympic Games.
“I am grateful to God for giving me this great opportunity,” Lee said after the qualification. In the Olympics, with a limited roster, you have to do your part. I will try to do my best from my position so that the national team can win a medal.”
The women’s team, which includes Shin Yoo-bin, Jeon Jeon-hee and Lee Eun-hye, is characterized by a stronger offensive lineup than in the past.
“We don’t have a lot of time, but we will calmly build teamwork so that the three players can achieve the best synergy,” said Oh Kwang-heon, head coach of the women’s team.
The men’s team, meanwhile, has been finalized without selection, with Jang Woo-jin, Lim Jong-hoon (Korea Exchange) and Cho Dae-sung (Samsung Life Insurance).
Table tennis competition at the Paris Olympics will begin next month on the 27th.
The six men’s and women’s players will continue their training at the Jincheon Athletes’ Village and will leave for Paris on the 20th of next month. 파워볼사이트