Jeon Jihee
South Korea
South Korea
Jeon Jihee was born on the 28th of October 1992 in Langfang, a city in Hebei Province in central China. The professional female tennis player born as Tian Minwei became a naturalized South Korean after obtaining citizenship in 2011 and joining the POSCO Energy Women’s Table Tennis team. Since then, she has been playing for South Korea where she moved because of stiff competition in China, and she has represented the country at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, among other tournaments, in the women’s team, women’s singles, and mixed doubles events.
Jeon is a left-handed player who uses the shakehand grip and she is among the top-ranked female table tennis players. We will review her background, training, and her major accomplishments in table tennis.
Quick Facts
Biography
Jeon became interested in table tennis at a young age and her father was her trainer at that time. She had to switch citizenship after moving to South Korea for greener pastures.
Early years
Jeon Jihee started playing table tennis when she was seven years old. This was under the influence and training of her father who was a table tennis coach when Jeon was in elementary school. She won a silver medal in the individual championship and became the Asian junior champion while playing for the Chinese national team in 2007.
The next year, Jeon moved to the Chinese TTC Shandong Luneng Club where her teammate included Chen Meng who was a key member of the national table tennis team. While there, she became a member of the second national women’s table tennis team.
China is known to have strong completion among table tennis players and this forced Jeon to relocate to South Korea to seek more opportunities. Her friend’s father adopted her and she became a Korean citizen through naturalization in January 2011 after passing the naturalization exam.
Career
The following are the major accomplishments of Jeon Jihee in table tennis.
World Championships
The South Korean superstar played in WTT Doha in March 2021 where she made it to the quarterfinals but lost to Miyuu Kihara in the WTT Contender event , and also lost to Mima Ito in the semifinals of the WTT Star Contender event.
She qualified for the Grand Final after winning the Japan Open U-21 but was defeated by Kasumi Ishikawa in the finals.
In 2012, Jeon Jihee advanced to the semifinals after qualifying for the Grand Final as a U-21 player.
The following year, she was part of the senior division team and won several medals in the World Tour women’s doubles. She also played in the Singles Grand Final but lost to Liu Shiwen of China in the quarterfinals. Liu is known to be the fastest female table tennis player in the world and she was ranked number one worldwide by ITTF for nine consecutive months in 2010.
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Jeon debut in the World Championships was at the 2018 World Team Championship. The North Korean team paired with the South Korean team in the quarterfinals and won a bronze medal after losing 3-0 to Japan in the semifinals.
Asian Championships
Jeon Jihee competed at the 2014 Asian Games as a member of the South Korea national team after winning the Korean domestic qualifier. She won a bronze medal with Kim Min-seok in the mixed doubles event at the Asian championships.
2016 seemed to be Jeon’s year because she set a new personal record after winning the South Korean Championship and was ranked the best in South Korea and the 11th-best female table tennis player in the world. She uses a blade designed by the Chinese national team and we have also provided you with more options for the best table tennis blades for both amateurs and professional players.
After this win, Jeon Jihee qualified for the Olympics and made it to the quarterfinals with the team. She beat Matilda Ekholm, who represented Sweden in the third round of individual competitions, and then lost to Yu Mengyu of Singapore in the 1/8 finals.
The following year, Jeon was a gold winner in the singles, mixed and team events at the 2017 Universiade. She and her teammate Yang Ha-eun pulled out of the Grand Final even after qualifying for it.
Jeon Jihee table tennis feat in international tournaments was already established when she was part of the women’s team that paired up with North Korea and won South Korea its first world championship medal for the women’s team since their bronze win in 2012.
She took part in the World Cup for the first time in 2019, where she teamed up with Yang Ha-eun to win a silver medal in the Grand Final and advanced South Korea to the semifinals. Jeon also competed in the 2019 Asian Cup and was defeated by Cheng I-ching in the round of 16.
Olympic Games
Jeon Jihee played in the women’s team event and in the women’s singles at the 2016 Summer Olympics, in which Yu Mengyu defeated her in the fourth round.
She competed in the women’s singles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and lost to Mima Ito in the quarterfinals. Jeon also advanced to the quarterfinals in the mixed doubles. Unfortunately, she was defeated by Cheng I-ching and Lin Yu Ju who won a bronze medal at the event.
Playing style
Jeon Jihee's table tennis playing style is as an attacker that employs the shakehand grip. We have the best table tennis rubbers for the forehand and the backhand and you can find the right one for you because our collection includes products for both right-handed players as well as left-handed players like Jeon.
Jeon Jihee Equipment
Videos
Final Thoughts
Jeon Jihee table tennis career in South Korea started when she joined the women’s table tennis team of a steel-making company. After losing one of her matches to Cheng i-Ching, she said that the defeat taught her to stop thinking too much about the results to avoid unnerving herself.
Jeon competed in the 2021 WTT Middle East Hub and won two bronze medals in the women’s and mixed doubles events at the new WTT series. She and Shin Yubin also won the women’s doubles at the 2021 WTT Star Contender, a bronze medal in women’s singles and she progressed to the finals with Lee Sangsu in the mixed doubles event. Jeon Jihee has what it takes to keep her position as one of the best table tennis players worldwide.