South Korean Para table tennis icon Joo Young-dae (50-Gyeongnam Para Sports Association) teamed up with his 20-year younger junior Jang Young-jin (30-Seoul City Hall) to win the men’s doubles gold medal at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games.
The pair defeated Thailand’s Tinatet Nattaut and Chuewong Thirayu 3-0 (11-3 11-4 11-8) in the men’s doubles MD4 final of the Games at the Archer Canal Sports Park Gymnasium in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China on Sunday.
Tokyo 2020 Paralympic gold medalist Joo Young-dae won his second title of the tournament after winning the men’s singles on Friday.
“My strategy was to pass the ball without too much effort and let Jang Young-jin finish it off, and it worked,” Joo said after the match, “I think Jang Young-jin played to her strength and speed advantage and did well.”
Joo’s next goal is the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. “I will aim for gold in both singles and doubles,” he said.
In the XD22 Mixed Doubles event held on the same day, Western Hee (37-Gyeongbuk Para Sports) and Kim Ki-tae (25-Busan Para Sports) came from behind to win gold.
The pair defeated Chinese Taipei 3-2 (9-11 4-11 11-6 11-9 11-9) in the final.
South Korea lost the first and second games, but Kim Ki-tae’s quick attack pushed his opponent to take the third game.
In the fourth game, Western’s steady game management stood out.
South Korea was down 7-9 in the final five games, but back-to-back errors by their opponents and an attack by Kim Ki-tae completed the upset.
Kim Ki-tae is a veteran of the 2018 tournament in Indonesia, where he won two titles, and last year’s World Championships, where he won three.
He was in peak form at the tournament, winning bronze in the singles and gold in the mixed doubles.
“We thought we could turn it around if we won three games,” said Kim Jung-joong, the team’s coach, adding, “We split the roles between Kim Ki-tae on offense and Seo Seo-hee on defense and did a good job.”
Seo Soo-yeon (37, Gwangju Para Athletic Association) and Lee Im-gyu (35, Gyeongbuk Para Athletic 토토 Association) also won gold in the WD5 women’s doubles final on the same day, defeating China’s Maolin Yang and Zhonghui Yang 3-0 (11-8 11-4 11-6).
Seo, who won gold in the women’s singles on Sept. 25, made it two gold medals and will attempt to win a third in the mixed doubles on Sept. 28, the final day of competition.