The South Korean women's table tennis doubles team of Jeon Ji-hee and Shin Yu-bin knocked a North Korean duo out of the Asian Games in China on Friday, surviving some dicey moments to advance to the quarterfinals.
Jeon and Shin, the world No. 1 women's doubles duo, defeated Kim Kum-yong and Pyon Song-gyong of North Korea 3-1 (11-4, 5-11, 11-9, 12-10) at Gongshu Canal Sports Park Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China. This was the first all-Korean meeting of the women's table tennis competition at this year's Asiad.
The South Koreans took the first game handily, and won the first three points of the second game before the North Korean rallied to take it 11-5 and even the match.
Jeon and Shin trailed 8-6 before rallying to win the third game 11-9.
North Korea nearly forced a do-or-die fifth game, after opening up a 9-6 lead. Shin, in particular, had trouble returning shots with consistency.
But South Korea won the next three points to tie things up at 9-9. Pyon's backhand put North Korea back up by 10-9, a point away from taking the match to the fifth game, but the game went to deuce after Kim's miscue.
South Korea grabbed the next two points to book a ticket to the quarterfinals, with Kim's forehand hitting the net to end the match after 43 minutes.
The players from both sides briefly shook hands with each other after the match.
Jeon and Shin are trying to become the first South Korean women's doubles team in 21 years to win an Asiad title.
Source: Yonhap News Agency