Hayata Claims Bronze in Table Tennis; Japanese Player Comes from Behind After Suffering Arm Injury

By Kentaro Sugino / Yomiuri Shimbun Sportswriter

17:42 JST, August 4, 2024

PARIS — Japan’s Hina Hayata earned an Olympic medal Saturday, winning the women’s singles table tennis bronze medal match 4-2 against South Korea’s Shin Yubin.

Hayata’s voice echoed throughout the venue every time she scored a point in the sixth game, when she had a one-game lead.

When her opponent missed a match-point shot to give the Japanese player the match, Hayata crouched down and sobbed into her hands. It was an expression of joy at having overcome such a tough opponent to claim a come-from-behind victory.

Hayata lost the first game of the match and took the second. After that, her typical tenacity was on full display. She fell behind 7-10 but upped her focus, pushing the score to 9-10 and forcing Shin to call a timeout.

But that timeout did not stop Hayata’s momentum, and the points kept coming. Hayata sealed the deal 12-10 with a strong forehand shot.

Hayata, a lefty, injured her left arm in the quarterfinals on Thursday. She lost her semifinal match because she was “unable to accept the reality of the situation.”

“I didn’t expect God to be so mean to me at such a moment,” she said.

Right before the bronze medal match, Hayata received an injection for pain relief. She recalled, “Up until five minutes before the match, I was thinking about how to pull out 20%-30% from the totality of my strength.”

Bracing herself for the worst, she thought, “I had to fight until the last moment and keep believing in myself.”

The effects of the injury were obvious, but Hayata kept fighting tenaciously.

“The people of Japan supported me until the very last moment,” she said. “I fought because I wanted to show them the bronze.”