Ryu Seung-min (; born August 5, 1982 in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

) is a

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

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 who won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the men's singles competition. His opponent was Wang Hao, a top-seeded player from the Chinese national team. Along the way, he defeated 1992 Olympic champion

Jan-Ove Waldner Jan-Ove Waldner (; born 3 October 1965),Jan-Ove Waldner profile.'' Swedish Table Tennis Federation in Sweden commonly ''J-O Waldner'' (, is a Swedish former table tennis player. He is often referred to as "the Mozart of table tennis."Bishop, G. ...

with 4–1. At the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics he was part of the South Korean team that won the bronze and silver medals respectively. Ryu is ranked twenty-fifth in the world as of July 2013. In 2016, Ryu became a member of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC), he was a member and Chair of the Athletes' Commission of the

n National Olympic Committee from 2016 to 2019. Since 2018, he counts among the ITTF Foundation Ambassadors, promoting sport for development and peace. In March 2022, Ryu signed with World Star Entertainment.

Style

Ryu Seung-min plays penhold style. Unlike players like Ma Lin and Wang Hao, Ryu never uses the backside of his blade – in fact, he does not even have rubber on it. Ryu relies on his outstanding footwork, explosive forehand loops and drives to win points. For some time he used Xiom (South Korea) table paddles and rubbers playing with his signature model "Ryu Seung Min Special" penhold and has been using ProZRSM ever since his victory at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Lately he switched again to Butterfly (Japan) equipment and now he uses their Ryu Seung-min G-Max blade with Tenergy 05. As of December 1, 2012 he is ranked 20th in the world. His top ranking was world number 2 in September 2004, and since November 2001 he was always in top 25 of the ITTF world ranking list.

Career records

Singles (as of April 9, 2015) * Olympics: Gold medal (2004). *

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

: SF (2007). *

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

appearances: 5. Record: runner-up (2007). * Pro Tour winner (3): Egypt, USA Open 2004; Chile Open 2008.
Runner-up (4): Swedish Open 2001; Brazil Open 2002; Japan Open 2005; Slovenian Open 2007; Kuwait Open 2012. * Pro Tour Grand Finals appearances: 9. Record: SF (2003, 05, 10). * Asian Games: SF (2006). *

Asian Championships An Asian Championship is a top level international sports competition between Asian athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships (Summer Olympic Sports) ;Aquatics * Asia ...

: SF (2003). Men's doubles * Olympics: 4th (2000). * World Championships: QF (2001, 05, 09). * Pro Tour winner (8): China (Qingdao) Open 2002; Croatian, Egypt, USA Open 2004; Korea Open 2005; Chinese Taipei Open 2006; Kuwait Open 2007; Brazil Open 2012.
Runner-up (4): China (Changchun) Open 2000; Korea Open 2010; Austrian Open 2010; Japan Open 2012. * Pro Tour Grand Finals appearances: 4. Record: SF (2012). * Asian Games: winner (2002). * Asian Championships: SF (2005). Mixed doubles * World Championships: QF (2003). * Asian Games: runner-up (2002). Team * Olympics: 3rd (2008), 2nd (2012). * World Championships: 2nd (2006, 08); 3rd (2001, 04, 10, 12). *

World Team Cup The World Team Cup was the international men's team championship of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The inaugural edition of the tournament was contested in 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica and was called the Nations Cup. No tourname ...

: 2nd (2009); 3rd (2007). * Asian Games: 2nd (2002, 06). * Asian Championships: 2nd (2005).

Filmography

Television show

References

External links

* ** ** * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryu, Seung-min 1982 births Living people South Korean male table tennis players Table tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic table tennis players of South Korea Olympic gold medalists for South Korea Olympic bronze medalists for South Korea Olympic medalists in table tennis Asian Games medalists in table tennis Olympic silver medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Table tennis players at the 2006 Asian Games Table tennis players at the 2002 Asian Games Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Asian Games silver medalists for South Korea Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea International Olympic Committee members Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games World Table Tennis Championships medalists South Korean expatriate sportspeople in China