The latest news, the Korean Table Tennis Association announced the 2021 Male Player of the Year awarded to Lee Sang-so, who has been ranked among the three main players in the Korean men's team for many years, and the men's doubles combination with Jung Young-sik was once ranked No. 1 in the world, and in 2021, Lee Sang-so set a precedent for the First Asian Championships in the Korean Men's Singles Championship, and finally won the best of the year. Lee Sang-so once teamed up with his wife Park Young-sook to reach the mixed doubles final of the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships, and finally came in second place, and is also a typical loving couple who sing with a wife.
The 31-year-old Lee Sang-so is one of the main players of the South Korean men's team, currently ranked 18th in the world, second only to Jang Woo-jin and Jung Young-sik, but the three main players of the South Korean men's team are a common disease, the strength of the forehand and backhand is average but the lack of killer skills, the characteristics are not clear enough. In the past, the Korean table tennis team in the strong era of Hyun Jinghe, Liu Namkui, Kim Taek-so, Yoo Seung-min and other team members have a flexible pace, forehand a board of fierceness, in today's South Korean players basically can not see, after all, the national table tennis, there is no fresh protection, which also led to the South Korean men's and women's team in the singles field is almost difficult to win the championship.
In the 2021 Asian Championships, the Chinese team did not send players to participate, and in the end, the Japanese team divided the seven crowns with 4 crowns and the South Korean team 3 crowns. Lee Sang-so as the main force of South Korea won the team championship, and then in the singles field after 5 rounds of hard-fought 3-2 victory over Chinese Taipei's Zhuang Jiyuan, for the South Korean men's singles won the Asian Championship for the first time, which is also the South Korean men's team in recent years rare men's singles championship, even if it is the general WTT Open, as long as there are national table tennis players to participate, the South Korean team is difficult to win the championship, taking advantage of the absence of national table tennis, breaking the embarrassment of the Asian Championships men's singles without a championship, earning enough face for the Korean Table Tennis Association, sweeping away the haze of repeated feathers in the past competitions.
In addition to the Asian Championships, Lee Sang-so also participated in the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, as the main force of the men's team but did not have the opportunity to go further after reaching the semi-finals, after being defeated by the host Japan team to win the 4th place, the mixed doubles Lee Sang-so / Tian Ji-hee lost 2-4 to Lin Yunru / Zheng Yijing in Chinese Taipei, stopped in the 1/4 final, and the Korean team did not win a medal as a traditional strong team at the Tokyo Olympics.
Coming to the Paris Olympic cycle, in order to enhance the strength of the South Korean men's team, the 2003 World Table Tennis Championships men's singles runner-up Zhu Shihe was hired as the head coach, and Lee Sang-so hopes that under the tutelage of the new coach, he can still blossom new flowers and make progress over before. South Korea's young Ahn Jae-hyun, Lim Jong-hoon, Cho Dae-sung have joined the main battle, the future Of South Korea team wants to compete with national table tennis, Japan, Germany, veteran rookies must have a qualitative promotion.
Lee Sang-so and his wife, who married in 2018 and are now a happy family, were once part of the Korean women's team, beating national table tennis player Yao Yan 4-3 in the first round of the 2009 Yokohama World Table Tennis Championships women's singles, and also the wife of Xu Xin. At the 2013 World Table Tennis Championships, Lee Sang-so/ Park Young-sook reached the mixed doubles final, losing 1-4 to North Korea's Kim Hyuk-bong/Kim Jong, missing out on their best chance to win the world championship. Due to Lee Sang-so's solid position in the Korean team, not only strong in singles, but also in doubles and mixed doubles, the Paris Olympic cycle is expected to continue to represent the Korean men's team.