Lee Seung-soo Wins Bronze in Dakar to End South Korean Youth Olympics Table Tennis Drought
South Korean table tennis player Lee Seung-soo defeated Hong Kong’s Ricky Ho 4–2 to secure the men’s singles bronze medal at the 2026 Dakar Summer Youth Olympics on November 6, ending the country’s 16-year medal drought in the sport at the Youth Games.
Playing at the Dakar Expo Center in Senegal, Lee built an early lead by claiming the first three games 11-8, 11-8, and 11-5. After Ho bounced back to take the fourth game 11-8 and narrowly won a tight fifth game 17-15, Lee recovered in the sixth game. He broke a 13-13 tie with two consecutive points to close out the match 15-13. Lee advanced out of Group 3 as the top seed after winning all his matches.
Path to the Podium and Tournament Results
Lee’s journey to the medal match included a hard-fought 4–3 victory over France’s Noah Vitel in the round of 16. He then defeated Turkey’s Gorkem Ocal 4–1 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Lee lost 2–4 to Japan’s Ryusei Kawakami, who eventually captured the gold medal by defeating Colombia’s Emanuel Otalvaro 4–2 in the final.
In the women’s singles tournament, South Korea’s Heo Yerim advanced as the top seed from Group 7 but suffered a 2–4 comeback loss to Poland’s Katarzyna Rajkowska in the round of 16. Lee and Heo also teamed up for the mixed doubles event, where they reached the quarterfinals before falling to a pair from Taiwan. Japan’s Ryusei Kawakami and Miku Matsushima won the mixed doubles gold, making Kawakami a double gold medalist at the Games.
Historical Context for South Korean Table Tennis
Lee’s bronze medal stands as South Korea’s only table tennis podium finish at the 2026 Dakar Games. The result marks the first time South Korean table tennis has won a medal at the Summer Youth Olympics since the inaugural 2010 Singapore Games. At the 2010 event, Kim Donghyun and Yang Ha-eun won silver in the mixed team event, while Yang Ha-eun added a bronze in the women’s singles. South Korea failed to medal in table tennis at the two intervening Youth Olympic editions.
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