(Asiad) S. Korea wins silver in men's team table tennis

By Oh Seok-min

SUWON, South Korea, Sept. 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea took the silver medal in the men's team table tennis at the Asian Games on Monday, again failing to prevail over the mighty China.

The South Korean team of Joo Sae-hyuk, Lee Jung-woo, Kim Dong-hyun, Kim Min-seok and Jeong Sang-eun was defeated by the Chinese team comprised of Ma Long, Zhang Jike, Xu Xin, Fan Zhendong and Zhou Yu 3-0 in the lopsided final at Suwon Gymnasium located south of South Korea's capital city of Seoul.

The competition takes a best-of-five format, with the results of single matches deciding the team medal winner.

Xu Xin is the world's top-ranked player, followed by Fan, Ma and Zhang, with Zhou coming in at 13th in the world. Among the South Korean players, Joo Sae-hyuk stood the highest at 17th.

Despite being neck-and-neck in the opening match, South Korea's Joo lost to Ma 3-1. Xu then beat Lee 3-0 in 22 minutes and Zhang also made a comfortable win against Jeong with a set score of 3-0.

South Korea has not taken a single Asiad gold in table tennis since 2002, with China sweeping all seven gold medals up for grabs at the 2010 Guangzhou Asiad.

Earlier in the day, South Korea was knocked out of the round of 16 in the mixed double event, after being defeated by North Korea 3-1.

graceoh@yna.co.kr
(END)