Shin Yu-bin (21, copyright) was once again blocked by China's high wall.

Shin Yoo-bin, ranked 10th in the world, failed to advance to the semifinals by losing Wang Yi (China, No. 3) to the quarterfinals of the women's singles at the WTT (World Table Tennis) Champions Incheon 2025 at Inspire Arena in Jung-gu, Incheon on the 5th.안전놀이터

Wang is known as a natural enemy to Korean table tennis fans as he won all eight games against Shin in the international arena. As such, the match was not easy. The upcoming round started from the quarterfinals to the seven-game system.

They continued a close game of 6-6 games until the middle of the first game. Afterwards, Wang's offensive coincided with Shin's mistakes, leading the first game 8-11. Shin, who was completely behind in two games, quickly took the lead by attacking the opponent's side in three games. However, Wang was also formidable. He quickly followed Wang from 2-6 to 8-9, and lost the game from behind as he escaped the last backhand attack.

One game he played is Shin, who won. Shin took the early lead in four games and allowed another upset. However, he managed to win the game 11-8, without losing momentum with a powerful forehand drive. Shin failed to continue his momentum in five games. Shin, who lost momentum from the beginning, finished the tournament in the quarterfinals by a wide margin of 3-11.

Prior to that, Lee Sang-soo (45, Samsung Life Insurance), the oldest member of the men's table tennis team, was the only Korean player to advance to the semifinals, saving face. Lee Sang-soo won the men's singles quarterfinals of the tournament by a score of 4-2 (12-10, 11-9, 7-11, 12-11, 9-11, 11-4) to Lingao Yuen (10th in the world).

Lee Sang-soo showed dominance over Lingaouyen from the beginning. He led the way mainly by attacking. In the first game, deuce was neck-and-neck, but points were determined mostly by Lee Sang-soo's attempts at attack. He lost two games first. He lost three games, but won four games of deuce again. He lost five games to collect his breath, but his victory was not affected. He ended up with six games.

The Champions, which only plays the men's and women's individual singles round of 32, is a top-level competition in the WTT Contender Series. At the first Championships held in the same venue last year, Korea's women's team Jeon Ji-hee (retired) alone advanced to the quarterfinals. All men were eliminated in the round of 16.

Lee Sang-soo also lost to French player Simon Gozi in the round of 16 at last year's championship. In this competition, which took place again in a year, Lee is setting new records by advancing beyond the round of 16 to the quarterfinals and the semifinals. Since the national flag was officially lowered early this year, easy challenges seem to lead to the best outcome.

Whenever Lee overwhelmed challenging opponents including Felix LeBrugn (France, 6th), Anders Lind (Denmark, 32nd), and Lingaouwen (eight), Lee said, "Being calm and concentrating on the game resulted in good results." With all the national team players eliminated, Lee's struggles stand out even more.

The next opponent of Lee Sang-soo, who reached the semifinals, is Taiwanese ace Lin Yun-ju (14th). Lin Yun-ju won 4-1 (11-9, 11-5, 11-3, 4-11, 11-4) against Japan's rising star Matsushima Sora (3rd place). Lin Yun-ju has been called a genius since her debut and is a strong player with creative game management. Lee Sang-soo met once and Lee Sang-soo lost at the 2019 Asian Cup, a fierce 4-3 full-game match. The semifinals of Lee Sang-soo and Lin Yun-ju are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on the 6th, the last day of the competition

This year's event is an international competition that takes place in Korea for the second consecutive year following last year's Incheon WTT Champions in 2024, where only men's and women's singles will take place without mixed doubles and men's doubles. The total prize money is 500,000 U.S. dollars, and the WTT ranking points that are at stake are 1,000 points, with 40,000 dollars in prize money and 1,000 ranking points given to the winner of men's and women's singles. Participating in the competition alone will receive 4,500 dollars and 15 points. The competition, which was completed right before the semifinal in the match on Friday, will have the semifinal match on Saturday, followed by the men's and women's semifinal match and the final match on Sunday, the last day of the competition.