Table tennis player Joo Se-hyuk made history as he reached the men’s singles final at the 47th World Table Tennis Championship in Paris on Sunday after impressive victories against two of the sport’s biggest names.
However, South Korea’s first male finalist at the worlds was stopped by sixth-seed Werner Schlarger of Austria, who held off Joo 4-3 (11-9, 11-6, 6-11, 12-10, 8-11, 12-10) to claim the title.
The 23-year-old Joo showed great resilience against high-profile players including Ma Lin of China and Kalinikos Kreanga of Greece at the quarterfinal and semifinal, respectively.
Unseeded Joo paved the way for the feat with an emotional romp against second-seeded Ma in an epic seven-setter and booked a ticket for the final with a 4-1 rout over ninth-seeded Kreanga.
The defensive player Joo with a hand-shake grip staged an interesting match-up against right-handed attacker Schlarger. With Joo trailing 2-1 in the fourth set, he topped 10 points first for a 10-8 lead. Yet, Joo gave up four consecutive points to lose the set 12-10 and fell to a 3-1 deficit in a chance to even the match.
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