Kim Song-i (; born 10 August 1994) is a North 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 of November 2017, she is ranked 23rd in the world based on ITTF rankings. Kim plays a highly defensive

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

with plenty of slice, occasionally injecting pace with top spin strokes from the forehand. She represents the Amrokkang Sports Club. She won the bronze medal for North Korea at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Early life

Kim was born on 10 August 1994 to a working-class family in

Phyongchon District P'yŏngch'ŏn-guyŏk (Phyongchon District) is one of the 18 ''Administrative divisions of North Korea#Second-level divisions, guyŏk'' (political districts or wards) of Pyongyang, P'yŏngyang, North Korea. It is bordered by the Taedong River in ...

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...

. She went to the Ponghak Primary School and later the Sosong District Juvenile Sports School.

Career

In 2012 in Helsingborg she won the Women's Singles title at the Swedish Open.

2016 Rio Olympics

In the third round, she surprisingly beat Japan's

Kasumi Ishikawa (born 23 February 1993) is a Japanese table tennis player. A regular member of the Japanese national team, she won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, a bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and a silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics, ...

, ranked number six in the world., In the quarter finals, she went on to beat Singaporean

Yu Mengyu Yu Mengyu (; born 18 August 1989) is a retired Chinese-born Singaporean table tennis player. Born in Liaoning, China, Yu left China in 2006 at the age of 17 to join the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA). She was part of the team that ...

, ranked 13th, with a score of 4-2 before losing to second-ranked

Ding Ning Ding Ning (; born 20 June 1990) is a former Chinese table tennis player. She was the winner of women's singles in the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships. At the 2015 World Table Tennis Championships, Ding won her second world title in ...

in the semifinals with a score of 4–1. However, Kim was not an easy opponent for Ding, who was both stressed and exhausted after the match. In the bronze medal match, she beat Japan's

Ai Fukuhara is a retired Japanese table tennis player and Olympic medalist, winning silver at the 2012 Summer Olympics and bronze at the 2016 Summer Olympics with the Japanese women's team. She is sponsored by All Nippon Airways. Table tennis career Fuk ...

with a score of 4–1 to take the bronze medal of the

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Song-i North Korean female table tennis players Table tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic table tennis players of North Korea 1994 births Living people Asian Games medalists in table tennis Table tennis players at the 2014 Asian Games Table tennis players at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for North Korea Asian Games bronze medalists for North Korea Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Table tennis players at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for North Korea Olympic medalists in table tennis Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Universiade medalists in table tennis Universiade bronze medalists for North Korea Medalists at the 2017 Summer Universiade 21st-century North Korean women