The South Korean women's table tennis team emerged victorious over Germany on Saturday to capture the bronze medal in the women's team event.
Jeoh Jihee and partner Shin Yubin clinched the first point in their tightly-contested doubles match, 3-2. Germany's Yuan Wan and Xiaona Shan rallied back from a two game deficit to level the score, but couldn't fight off South Korea in the fifth game.
The first point propelled the pace of the rest of the match, and South Korea's Lee Eunhye and Jeon Jihee both breezily captured their singles matches without dropping a game.
"It was a long competition, but I’m glad I did my best," Shin said after the victory. "Competing in such a major event and playing in so many important matches, especially the team event, has been an invaluable experience for me."
The women's team's bronze medal has closed South Korea's 16-year wait since the team last won an Olympic medal in 2008.
Germany's bronze medal loss is a devastating repeat for the team, as they also lost in the bronze medal final in Tokyo.
Eighteen-year-old Annett Kaufmann of Team Germany closes the tournament without a medal, but has made an indelible mark in the Games. During her time in Paris, the world ranked No. 100 has handled some of the heavyweights of table tennis with ease, beating the world No. 25 Manika Batra, and the No. 12 Miwa Harimoto decidedly in the teams matches.
“Right now, it's pretty hard to focus on the positive things, but I can be really proud of myself," Kaufmann said. "I won against players who were, maybe six months ago, so much better than me. It just shows me that the hard work pays off."