Hirano Nishihara “I’m upset but have no regrets”
Japanese national table tennis player Miu Hirano (24) played the best women’s singles match of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games against South Korea’s Yoo Bin Shin (20). Although she failed to advance to the semifinals, Hirano put on a performance that can be described as a “good fight despite losing.
World No. 8 Shin Yubin defeated world No. 13 Hirano of Japan 4-3 (11-4 11-7 11-5 7-11 8-11 9-11 13-11) in the quarterfinals of the women’s singles at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Arena 4 in South Paris, France, on Monday (June 1).
With the win, Shin became the first South Korean to reach an Olympic semifinal in the women’s singles event since Kim Kyung-ah won the bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Games. It was also South Korea’s first Olympic singles quarterfinal in 20 years in the men’s event.
Shin previously won a bronze medal in the mixed doubles event on March 30 when he teamed up with Lim Jong-hoon to defeat Hong Kong’s Wong Chun-ting and Du Hoi-kem 4-0 (11-5 11-7 11-7 14-12). The women’s singles quarterfinals set the stage for another podium finish in Paris.
Shin Yubin’s journey to the women’s singles semifinals at the Paris Olympics was an unscripted drama. After taking the first three games, it looked like an easy victory, but Miu Hirano’s grit and determination proved to be too much for the Korean.
Miu fought back to take a 4-1 lead in the fourth game, but unlike the first three games, she made fewer errors and racked up points with bold attack attempts. Shin Yubin made a few unforced errors and Miu Hirano took the fourth game 11-7.
Miu Hirano surrendered an 8-6 lead in game five to Yubin Shin to tie the score at 8-8, but she immediately scored two points. After taking a double-digit lead, she was able to pull away from Shin to take the game 2-3.
Game 6 was a tightly contested affair, with every second counting. They traded points back and forth in a fierce offensive battle. The score was tied at 9-9 at the midway point. However, Miu Hirano scored two points in a row to tie the game at 3-3 and send the match to a seventh game.
For Shin Yubin, a game that was expected to be won turned into a 해외 카지노 사이트 game where she had to worry about a reverse sweep. On the other hand, Miu Hirano, who was on the brink, gained momentum and dreamed of an upset.
It was Shin Yubin who had the last laugh. At 9-10 in game 7, Yubin Shin dramatically drew the match to a 10-10 deuce tiebreak. Miu Hirano scored the first point, but it was Shin Yubin who had the happy ending. Shin scored three consecutive points to end a long, drawn-out battle that lasted more than an hour and a half.
Shin Yubin cried tears of joy, while Miu Hirano cried tears of pain in defeat. The 2,500 spectators in the stadium applauded the two players generously.
“Normally (when I lost games 1-3 to Shin Yubin), I would have collapsed there, but it was good that I was able to make up for it one by one (by winning games 4-6),” Miu Hirano said in the Mix Zone interview after the quarterfinals, “I thought I couldn’t lose like this, so I worked hard, but I’m disappointed that I didn’t win at the end.”
“I was slower than usual (in terms of speed) and I wasn’t as dominant on my serve receive, so I was in a hurry, but once I fixed that, I played pretty well,” she said, adding, “It’s hard to qualify for the Olympic singles, so I think (Paris) might be my first and last time. I have no regrets. I didn’t do enough to win a medal, and I will try to make up for it in the team event,” she said.
Miu Hirano added, “I’m upset that I didn’t win in the end, even though many people cheered for me, which gave me a lot of strength.”