For 10 days from today , a ‘team competition’ will be held with 340 athletes from 47 countries at BEXCO.

The Korean women's table tennis team, led by 'squeak' Shin Yu-bin (20) and 'passionate sister' Jeon Ji-hee (32), takes advantage of the 'home table' and attempts to return to the top of the world after 33 years.

The 2024 International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Championships will be held at BEXCO in Busan for ten days from the 16th to the 25th. This is the first time that the World Table Tennis Championships, which began in 1926, are held in Korea. The 2020 competition was also scheduled to be held in Busan, but was canceled due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection. Afterwards, they entered the bidding war again and succeeded in holding this year's tournament to mark the '100th anniversary of Korean table tennis.'

Since 1999, the World Table Tennis Championships have been held with individual competitions in odd-numbered years and team competitions in even-numbered years. About 340 athletes from 47 countries around the world will participate in this team event to compete against each other. In both the men's and women's divisions, players from each country compete in singles matches, and the team that wins three matches first wins. The teams are divided into 8 groups of 5 teams each and play in the group stage, followed by a final tournament to determine the winning team. If you make it to the quarterfinals in this competition, you will also be eligible to participate in the team event at the Paris Olympics.

Korean women's table tennis has won the world championship twice so far. At the 1973 Sarajevo Games, Korea won the world title for the first time in the history of ball sports, and at the 1991 Chiba Games, a unified North and South Korean team won a gold medal.

China was the champion in 13 of the 14 World Championships held since then. The 2010 Moscow Games, won by Singapore, was the only exception. Shin Yu-bin, ranked 8th in women’s singles, said, “With the responsibility of an ace, I will face (Chinese players) without fear.”

The men's national team, which recently won bronze medals in three consecutive competitions, is also determined to do well. Korean men's table tennis has never reached the top of the world championships. Jang Woo-jin (29), ranked 14th in the world, said, “I think (this tournament) could be the most important moment in the table tennis lives of all of our players. “The burden, which is not small, will become the motivation to play harder,” he said. In the men's event, China will challenge for its 11th consecutive gold medal since the 2001 Osaka Games. 19가이드03