Ryu Seung-min

Ryu Seung-min (Korean pronunciation: [ju.sɯŋ.min]; born August 5, 1982 in Seoul, South Korea) is a Korean table tennis player who won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the men's singles competition.[1][3] His opponent was Wang Hao, a top-seeded player from Chinese national team. Along the way, he defeated 1992 Olympic champion Jan-Ove Waldner with 4–1. At the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics he was part of the South Korean team that won the bronze and silver medals respectively.[4][5] Ryu is ranked twenty-fifth in the world as of July 2013.[2]

Ryu Seung-min
Personal information
Nationality South Korea
Born (1982-08-05) August 5, 1982[1]
Seoul, South Korea
Playing styleRight-handed, Japanese Penhold
Highest ranking2 (September 2004)[2]
Height178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight73 kg (161 lb)
Ryu Seung-min
Hangul
유승민
Hanja
柳承敏
Revised RomanizationYu Seungmin
McCune–ReischauerRyu Sŭngmin
IPAju.sɯŋ.min

Style

Ryu Seung-min plays penhold style. Unlike players like Ma Lin and Wang Hao, Ryu never uses the backside of his blade – in fact, he does not even have rubber on it. Ryu relies on his outstanding footwork, explosive forehand loops and drives to win points. For some time he used Xiom (South Korea) table paddles and rubbers playing with his signature model "Ryu Seung Min Special" penhold and has been using ProZRSM ever since his victory at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Lately he switched again to Butterfly (Japan) equipment and now he uses their Ryu Seung-min G-Max blade with Tenergy 05.

As of December 1, 2012 he is ranked 20th in the world. His top ranking was world number 2 in September 2004, and since November 2001 he was always in top 25 of the ITTF world ranking list.

Career records

Singles (as of April 9, 2015)[6]

  • Olympics: Gold medal (2004).[3]
  • World Championships: SF (2007).
  • World Cup appearances: 5. Record: runner-up (2007).
  • Pro Tour winner (3): Egypt, USA Open 2004; Chile Open 2008.
    Runner-up (4): Swedish Open 2001; Brazil Open 2002; Japan Open 2005; Slovenian Open 2007; Kuwait Open 2012.
  • Pro Tour Grand Finals appearances: 9. Record: SF (2003, 05, 10).
  • Asian Games: SF (2006).
  • Asian Championships: SF (2003).

Men's Doubles

  • Olympics: 4th (2000).
  • World Championships: QF (2001, 05, 09).
  • Pro Tour winner (8): China (Qingdao) Open 2002; Croatian, Egypt, USA Open 2004; Korea Open 2005; Chinese Taipei Open 2006; Kuwait Open 2007; Brazil Open 2012.
    Runner-up (4): China (Changchun) Open 2000; Korea Open 2010; Austrian Open 2010; Japan Open 2012.
  • Pro Tour Grand Finals appearances: 4. Record: SF (2012).
  • Asian Games: winner (2002).
  • Asian Championships: SF (2005).

Mixed Doubles

  • World Championships: QF (2003).
  • Asian Games: runner-up (2002).

Team

  • Olympics: 3rd (2008), 2nd (2012).
  • World Championships: 2nd (2006, 08); 3rd (2001, 04, 10, 12).
  • World Team Cup: 2nd (2009); 3rd (2007).
  • Asian Games: 2nd (2002, 06).
  • Asian Championships: 2nd (2005).

References

  1. "ITTF player's profile". International Table Tennis Federation. Archived from the original on June 16, 2011.
  2. "ITTF world ranking". International Table Tennis Federation. Archived from the original on August 19, 2010.
  3. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Yu Seung-Min". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020.
  4. http://www.olympic.org/olympic-results/beijing-2008/table-tennis/team-m
  5. http://www.olympic.org/olympic-results/london-2012/table-tennis/team-m
  6. "ITTF Statistics". International Table Tennis Federation. Retrieved January 17, 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.