South Korean men’s table tennis duo Jang Woo-jin 메이저놀이터(27, Mirae Asset Securities) and Lim Jong-hoon (26, Korea Exchange) have reached their second consecutive men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis Championships.
The pair defeated Germany’s Dmitry Ovcharov-Patrik Franziska 3-2 (11-7 5-11 8-11 11-9 11-5) in the men’s doubles semifinals of the ITTF World Championships 2023 in Durban, South Africa, on Saturday.
This is the second consecutive men’s doubles final at the World Championships for Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon. After reaching the quarterfinals and securing the bronze medal, they changed the color of their ‘reserved medal’ to ‘silver’ as they reached the final stage.
At the 2019 World Championships in Houston, Texas, USA, Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon won the silver medal in men’s doubles.
Woo-jin Jang pumping his fist after scoring a point ⓒKorea Table Tennis Association
The pair, who became the first Korean men’s table tennis team to win a silver medal at the event, overcame some tough opposition to reach the final.
After taking the first game, Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon took the second and third games in straight sets. They were on the verge of losing the match, but managed to take a 10-6 lead in game four.
However, Ovcharov-Franciska pulled to within a point at 9-10. They were in danger of deuce, but they managed to reach the 11-point mark to force the final game to five games.
After scoring back-to-back points at the start of the final game, Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon seized the momentum and took the fifth game 11-5 to advance to the final.
They will face the winner of the quarterfinal match between the ‘world’s strongest’ pair of Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin of China and Lee Sang-soo and Cho Dae-sung of Samsung Life for the title.
Meanwhile, TV channels SPOTV, SPOTV ON and sports OTT service SPOTV NOW will provide live satellite coverage of key matches at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships. There will also be live coverage on SPOTV ASIA. SPOTV Asia is available in 13 countries across the Southeast Asian region and offers a wide range of content, including tennis Grand Slam events Wimbledon and the US Open, men’s professional tennis ATP Tour, motorcycle racing event MotoGP, World Table Tennis (WTT) table tennis events, BWF badminton events and the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) Sport Climbing World Cup.