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The playing style of DPRK player Kim Kum Yong, who won the women’s singles at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in 2024, is drawing the attention of table tennis experts.

She won the last 16 by beating a Chinese player Wang Yidi, the quarterfinal by defeating an ROK opponent and the semifinal by outdoing Chinese Hong Kong rival.

She advanced to the final in which she defeated Japan’s Harimoto Miwa to take the first place.

She also beat the world No. 1 Chinese player, Sun Yingsha, at the women’s team event in the quarterfinals.

A table tennis expert of a country said after seeing her match: “DPRK’s Kim Kum Yong is a special player. She uses long pitted rubber and, in fact, this is also a very difficult style of play for her. Kim was a silver medallist at the Paris Olympic Games. Today, she beat the world No. 1 Chinese player. Kim is a strong player. The Chinese team needs to learn from Kim’s rubber and interception style of play.”