South beat North to take first table tennis gold since 2002

South Korea's Jeon Ji-hee and Shin Yu-bin defeated North Korea 4-1 in the women's doubles final on Monday to win the country’s first Asian Games gold medal in the sport since 2002.

South Korean table tennis player Shin Yu-bin serves the ball during the women's doubles final at the Hangzhou Asian Games held at Gongshu Canal Sports Park Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China on Monday. [YONHAP]

South Korean table tennis players Jeon Ji-hee and Shin Yu-bin won the country’s first gold medal in the sport at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Monday after a 4-1 win over Cha Su-yong and Pak Su-gyong of North Korea in the women’s doubles final.

Jeon and Shin displayed a dominant performance throughout the match at Gongshu Canal Sports Park Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China.

The South Korean duo won the first two games 11-6 and 11-4. North Korea bounced back in the third game to win 12-10, but South Korea denied them a comeback.

Jeon and Shin won the fourth game 12-10 and managed an 11-3 victory in the fifth game, putting the final score at 4-1 and securing Korea a coveted gold for the first time in the table tennis tournament at this year's Asiad.

Earlier in the day, Jang Woo-jin also took bronze in the men's individual event, losing 4-1 to Fan Zhedong in the semifinal.

South Korea were close to winning gold in previous table tennis contests, but fell short to China.

South Korea lost 3-0 to China in the men's team final on Tuesday last week, and the South Korean duo of Jang and Lim Jong-hoon lost 4-0 to Fan Zhendong and Wang Chuqin of China in the men’s doubles final on Sunday.

Monday's first-place finish marked South Korea’s first Asian Games gold in table tennis since 2002. South Korea's Lee Chul-seung and Ryu Seung-min’s gold in the men’s doubles and Lee Eun-sil and Seok Eun-mi’s gold in the women’s doubles were the country’s last Asiad golds in the sport.

The Monday women's doubles final wrapped up South Korea’s table tennis schedule at this year’s Asiad.

With the gold from Jeon and Shin, South Korea ended the table tennis tournament with a total of eight medals — one gold, two silver and five bronze.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]