Lim Jong-hoon (Korea Exchange) and Shin Yu-bin (Korean Air), the world's top-ranked table tennis mixed doubles pair, have won the World Table Tennis (WTT) US Smash title.
The Lim-Shin duo defeated the fifth-ranked pair of Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha 3-2 in the mixed doubles final of the WTT US Smash held in Los Angeles on Friday (Korea time). After taking the first game, the two conceded the second and third games to fall behind, but they won the fourth and fifth games in succession to complete a thrilling come-from-behind victory.
Lim and Shin, bronze medalists in mixed doubles at the 2024 Paris Olympics, reached the world's No. 1 ranking last year by claiming four international titles, including victory at the WTT Finals, considered the season's championship of champions. After winning their first title of this year at the WTT Star Contender Ljubljana last month, they captured their second trophy of the season in this tournament. The Smash is one of the most prestigious events in the WTT series, a stage where the world's top players all compete. This was the first time the two players had won a Smash event.
The Lim-Shin pair took control early in the first game with four straight points and seized the initiative with an 11-9 win, but the Chinese team took the second game 11-6 to bring the match back to square one. The Chinese team then won the third game to turn the match around, but Lim and Shin took the fourth game 11-7. In the decisive fifth game, the Lim-Shin pair added a lucky edge point while leading 5-4, and closed out the game 11-8 to secure the title.
