In table tennis, the Korean team's first gold medal at the Tokyo Paralympic Games came out.
In the men's table tennis singles TT1 final of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games held today (30th) at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan, Joo Young-dae defeated Kim Hyun-wook, who also wore the Taegeuk mark, with a set score of 3 to 1 to win the gold medal he had dreamed of.
Joo Young-dae, who showed extraordinary talent in sports from an early age, dreamed of becoming a physical education teacher and entered the Department of Physical Education at Gyeongsang National University, but in the summer of 1994 he became disabled in a car accident.
After working as a computer web designer, he started playing table tennis as a rehabilitation exercise at a welfare center in 2008, and a new life began.
In 2014, he wore the Taegeuk mark at the Incheon Asian Games for the Disabled, and started activities as a sports administrator for the disabled, such as the secretary-general of the Gyeongnam Table Tennis Association for the Disabled.
South Korea swept the gold, silver and bronze medals in singles in the TT1 event as Nam Nam-won, who had previously competed with Joo Young-dae to advance to the final in the quarterfinals, won the bronze medal, followed by Kim Hyun-wook's silver medal and Joo Young-dae's gold medal.
This is the first time that Paralympic Paralympic Paralympic table tennis has swept gold, silver and bronze medals in one class.
(Photo = Yonhap News)