Table tennis star Yoon Ji-yu wins second consecutive women's singles title at the Asian Games for the Disabled

Jiyu Yoon (Seongnam City Hall), the star of the disabled table tennis women's singles, achieved her second consecutive victory at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Para Games (Asian Para Games).

Ji-yu Yoon won the women's table tennis singles (Sports Class CLASS 3) final, defeating Huang Zhi-rui (China) 3-0 (11-7 11-3 11-4) held at Sky Hall Toyota in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan on the 20th.

Yun Ji-yu, the winner of the 2022 Hangzhou Competition, climbed to the top of the podium for the second consecutive time.

After the match, Yoon Ji-yu said, "My opponent was a rookie who had just appeared on the international stage, so I had never played against him before. I watched the semifinals out of curiosity to analyze his strength, as he could be my opponent in the finals. I was fortunate that my opponent seemed to be a good match for me."

Huang Zhirui is also the player that Yun Jiyu joined the national team after defeating China's Xue Jian, who had struggled in the past.

But Yoon Ji-yu did not waver. He calmly said, “Xue Jian played while thinking, ‘How could he have lost to this player?’”

Jiyu Yoon's challenge is not over. He is aiming for gold in the women's doubles and mixed doubles at this tournament.

In women's doubles, she works with Seo Soo-yeon (Gwangju Metropolitan City Hall), three-time winner of the Hangzhou Games, and in mixed doubles, she works with Kim Hyun-wook (Gyeonggi Province Sports Association for the Disabled).

Jiyu Yoon looked back and said, “After the Hangzhou Games, I participated in the Paris Paralympic Games and trained a lot. I think I grew little by little.”

He said, “My biggest goal is to win the individual gold medal at the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympic Games,” and pledged, “It was always disappointing to slip up in the finals (of the Paralympic Games), but I want to grow further and show a good performance.”