The South Korean national men's and women's table tennis teams have both advanced to the semifinals of the team event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, securing at least bronze medals.

Shin Yu-bin (Korean Air), Joo Cheon-hee (Samsung Life Insurance), and Kim Na-young (POSCO International) secured a 3-0 match victory against Singapore in the women's team quarterfinals held today (September 22) at Sky Hall Toyota in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

Shin Yu-bin, playing in the first singles match, defeated Zeng Jian 3-1 (11-4, 11-6, 5-11, 11-5). In the second singles match, Joo Cheon-hee hard-fought her way to a 3-2 victory (11-9, 8-11, 11-5, 3-11, 11-9) against Loy Ming Ying.

Kim Na-young, stepping up as the third singles player, then easily defeated Zhou Jingyi 3-0 (11-8, 11-5, 11-5) to confirm the team's place in the semifinals.

South Korea will face Japan, which defeated Chinese Taipei 3-0, in the semifinals tomorrow (September 23) at 7:30 PM.

Earlier, the men's team—featuring Jang Woo-jin (Mirae Asset Securities), Oh Jun-sung (Korea Exchange), and An Jae-hyun (Korea Exchange)—also achieved a clean sweep in their quarterfinals against Hong Kong with a 3-0 match score, successfully advancing to the final four.

Jang Woo-jin defeated Chan Baldwin 3-0 (11-7, 11-4, 11-8), Oh Jun-sung beat Wong Chun Ting 3-0 (11-8, 11-7, 12-10), and An Jae-hyun topped Lam Siu Hang 3-1 (13-11, 4-11, 13-11, 12-10).

The men's team's semifinal opponent is also Japan, with the match scheduled for tomorrow (September 23) at 5:00 PM.

For this tournament's team events, there is no bronze medal match, and both teams that lose in the semifinals receive bronze medals.

The men's national team won silver medals in the team event for eight consecutive tournaments from the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games to the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.

The women's national team won their first and only gold medal at the 1986 Seoul Asian Games and has not reached the final stage since the 1990 Beijing Asian Games.

They failed to win a medal at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games and claimed bronze medals at both the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games and the Hangzhou Asian Games.

(Photo: Yonhap News)