Park Ga-hyun (Korean Air), who was born in 2007, has been named in the semifinals of the women’s singles at the All-around Table Tennis Championships.
Park Ga-hyun advanced to the semifinals by winning 3-1 (6-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9) against national team Lee Si-on (28, Samsung Life Insurance) in the women’s singles quarterfinals of the 78th Aekyung Chemical Comprehensive Table Tennis Championships held at Samcheok Civic Gymnasium on the 22nd.
Park Ga-hyun, along with her “best rivals” Lee Seung-eun and Choi Ye-seo, chose to join the business team Korean Air early instead of going to high school shortly after graduating from Daejeon’s Hojdon Girls’ Middle School last year. In April this year, in her second year of joining, she proved her potential by winning the WTT Feeder Autosek (Slovenia), and continued her stormy growth by contributing to the victory by beating POSCO International Veteran Kim Byul in the final of the national championship in May. In particular, she set the history of Korea’s first gold medal in table tennis with her stellar performance in the semifinal against China, which is a captain and ace of the women’s under-19 team, and two points in the final against Taiwan at the World Youth Table Tennis Championships last month.
Park Ga-hyun, who aimed to “win singles in the quarterfinals or higher, the first singles championship next season” ahead of the overall championship in a month, is on a roll by beating his seniors one after another. In the round of 32, Ji Eun-chae (Hwaseong City Corporation) beat Seo Hyun-ji (Sangseo High School) in the round of 16, and in the round of 8, Lee Si-on, “a senior member of the national team,” entered the dream semifinals. 안전놀이터
Park Ga-hyun is the second generation of sportspeople who inherited the superior DNA of Park Kyung-soo, the national badminton team coach of Hannam University, and Jeong Hye-seung, and is showing great performance under the guidance of legendary coach Joo Se-hyuk, coach Kim Kyung-ah, and coach Dang Ye-seo. Taking advantage of her excellent ping-pong sense and natural wrist control ability, Park Ga-hyun, who is as powerful as a male player, is her main weapon that even though she knows it, can block a chikita (backhand tospin that turns her wrist on the table), who is as strong as a male player, even though she knows it. “The table tennis girl’s confidence, which had been a weakness since the Youth World Championship, has risen,” she said without hesitation in the competition’s all-around table tennis championship, which is the best tradition and authority in Korea.
“I will be one of the top five women’s national team players as soon as possible. I will lead the Korean women’s table tennis team along with Shin Yu-bin and Kim Na-young,” said coach Joo Se-hyuk after watching Park Ga-hyun’s bench advance to the semifinals. “He has a very good sense of neighborhood games and table tennis. He has gained skills and growth rates fast.” “He has improved again since he returned to the World Youth Championship. He has changed a day or two after teaching new things. He is a player who gives valuable lessons to the leader.” “Technically, he has a good backhand. He uses his wrists well and rotates a lot. On the other hand, he lacked forehand, but his forehand has been improving rapidly lately as he has changed angles and bodies through weight training.”
With table tennis players paying keen attention to how high Park Ga-hyun will be, she will have a match with “Posco International senior” Yang Ha-eun for a ticket to the finals in the semifinals. Lee Eun-hye (Korean Air), a bronze medalist at the Paris Olympics, and Choi Hyo-joo, a left-handed ace in the Korean Racing Authority, who beat “champion” Joo Chun-hee 3-0 to advance to the semifinals, will compete with Chinese naturalized players for the final round of women’s singles.
Meanwhile, Korean Air inflated expectations for “reconstruction of the prestigious family” by placing two players in the semifinals of the women’s singles at the first overall championship since head coach Joo Se-hyuk took office in September.
