Joo Sae-hyuk (, ; born 20 January 1980) is a South Korean

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

player. As a singles player, he was a silver medalist at the 2003 World Table Tennis Championships, a bronze medalist at the 2011 Table Tennis World Cup, and a bronze medalist at the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games ( ko, 2014년 아시아 경기대회/2014년 아시안 게임, Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the 17th Asian Games ( ko, 제17회 아시아 경기대회/제17회 ...

. In the team event, as a member of the South Korean National Team, he was a silver medalist in the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, and

; the

and 2008 World Championships; and the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

History

Joo Sae-hyuk was born in Seoul, South Korea on January 20, 1980. He stands 180 cm tall, and weighs 68 kg. He first started competing when he was 8 years old. He joined the national team in 2001, and fans began taking an interest in him for his dynamic defensive style. Between April and May 2012, Joo Sae-hyuk was diagnosed with

Behçet's disease Behçet's disease (BD) is a type of inflammatory disorder which affects multiple parts of the body. The most common symptoms include painful sores on the mucous membranes of the mouth and other parts of the body, inflammation of parts of the e ...

, Although Behcet's disease is known to be incurable, it appears that Joo Sae-hyuk is still performing well. On the medical side, Joo Sae-hyuk relies on glucocorticoids to manage his disease.

Style of Play

Joo Sae-hyuk has helped revive the popularity of the defensive style at the professional level. He is one of the few top-ranked players in the world (position 5 in 2012) to play a primarily defensive style, repeatedly returning the ball with heavy backspin on both wings. This has led many to dub him the best defensive player of all time. At the same time, he has a powerful topspin forehand that he uses to counterattack when the opportunity may arise. As with many defenders, his long rallies and entertaining style of play have made him a fan favourite. He is one of several foreign players in recent years to challenge China's dominance over the sport. Despite his age, he is still going strong on the tour.

Rankings

Since June 2003, the International Table Tennis Federation has consistently ranked Joo Sae-hyuk as one of the 40 best table tennis players in the world after he defeated Ma Lin. Since July 2006, he has been consistently ranked in the ITTF's top 20. His peak rating was at #5, in March 2012.

Coaches

* Yang Ki-ho - Personal Coach * Yoo Nam-kyu - National Coach *

Kim Taek-soo Kim Taek-Soo (Hangul: 김택수, Hanja: 金擇洙) (born May 25, 1970) is a former table tennis player from South Korea. He used a one-sided penhold style, compared to the newer style of reverse-backhand looping that has become the Chinese penh ...

- National Coach

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Joo, Sae-hyuk South Korean male table tennis players 1980 births Living people Asian Games medalists in table tennis Olympic table tennis players of South Korea Table tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for South Korea Olympic medalists in table tennis Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2002 Asian Games Table tennis players at the 2006 Asian Games Table tennis players at the 2010 Asian Games Table tennis players at the 2014 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for South Korea Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Universiade medalists in table tennis World Table Tennis Championships medalists South Korean expatriate sportspeople in China Universiade silver medalists for South Korea Expatriate table tennis people in Japan