Kim Song-i (; born 10 August 1994) is a North Korean

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

player. As of November 2017, she is ranked 23rd in the world based on ITTF rankings. Kim plays a highly defensive

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

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 (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Early life

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

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

. 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, ranked number six in the world., In the quarter-finals, she went on to beat Singaporean Yu Mengyu, 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 2011 World Table Tennis Championships – Women's singles, women's singles in the 2011 World Table Tennis Championships. At the 2015 World Table Ten ...

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 Fuku ...

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

2016 Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Song-i North Korean female table tennis players Table tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic table tennis players for 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 Summer World University Games medalists in table tennis FISU World University Games bronze medalists for North Korea Medalists at the 2017 Summer Universiade 21st-century North Korean sportswomen