"What on earth just happened?" Jang Woojin schools world No. 2 Lin Shidong... What is going on with China’s table tennis stronghold?

[Financial News] “What on earth is going on?” The roar of South Korean table tennis echoed through the night sky over Doha, Qatar. The Chinese mainland fell silent, and table tennis fans around the world were stunned.
Jang Woojin (SeAH Group), the leading figure in South Korean men’s table tennis, pierced the heart of China’s so‐called untouchable, undisputed powerhouse.
On the 11th in Doha, Qatar, at the WTT Champions Doha 2026 men’s singles semifinals, Jang Woojin defeated world No. 2 Lin Shidong of China by four games to two (8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 11-3) to advance to the final. It was far more than just another win. It was a massive upset that brought down one of the most impregnable fortresses in table tennis history.
China is a sporting superpower. It sweeps medals in countless disciplines, but in table tennis it occupies a different, almost sacred realm. Whenever the Chinese national table tennis team enters major events such as the Olympic Games or the Asian Games, its basic goal is to win gold in every single event. For them, a silver medal is practically the same as defeat.
The rest of the world talks about toppling China, but in reality, the only country that has ever managed, even occasionally, to halt China’s dominance and snatch away a gold medal has been South Korea.
From the 1988 Seoul Games to the miracle of Ryu Seung-min in Athens in 2004, it was South Korean table tennis that repeatedly blocked China’s ambition to sweep every title at decisive moments.

Jang Woojin’s opponent, Lin Shidong, is the “next emperor” China has been grooming with utmost care. He rose to world No. 1 at the age of 19 and, together with Wang Chuqin, is regarded as one of the twin pillars of Chinese table tennis. But on this day, he looked like nothing more than an inexperienced youngster.
Jang Woojin started shakily, dropping the first game, but immediately showed the composure and class of a veteran. From the second game on, he rattled Lin Shidong with quicker attacks and sharp drives that picked out the corners of the table. The composure vanished from Lin Shidong’s face as he grew flustered. After seizing the momentum by edging the pivotal fourth game in deuce, 12-10, Jang Woojin closed out the match with a dominant 11-3 score in the sixth. It was, in every sense, a schooling.

The recent surge of South Korean table tennis is no coincidence. Last year at a WTT event, the mixed doubles pair of Shin Yu-bin and Lim Jong-hoon defeated the world’s strongest duo to win the title, and now Jang Woojin has produced another breakthrough in singles.
Jang Woojin will now face the winner between Tomokazu Harimoto (world No. 4, Japan) and Lin Yun-ju (world No. 13, Taiwan) for the championship trophy in the final. Having scaled the massive mountain that is China, there is no opponent left for him to fear.
Could there be another player, after Ryu Seung-min, who defeats China and conquers the men’s singles event? At the very start of 2026, the small ball launched by Jang Woojin is beginning to crack the enormous dam that is Chinese table tennis.
jsi@fnnews.com Jeon Sang-il Reporter