Lim Jong-hoon
South Korea
South Korea
Having started at position 708 in the world rankings in 2010, Lim Jong-hoon has worked his way up to the top 20, with his best position coming at the end of 2022. He was ranked 16th globally and has maintained that position for the first few months of 2023. He plays for the Korean National team, although given the pedigree of the competition in Asia, he hasn’t represented his country at the Olympics just yet. That said, he has achieved a lot in his career hence his 16th-place ranking. If you’re a fan, here’s everything you’d need to know about the Korean ping pong player.
Quick Facts
Biography
Lim Jong-hoon is a South Korean native born on 21st January 1997 in Busan, where he was the firstborn in a family with two other brothers. His mother loved to play ping pong and would go to a local club where Lim started playing at just six years old.
Later, he joined the Daejon Bongsan Elementary School club, further aiding his development. Most of his young life was spent in Daejon, although he would later relocate to Seongnam-si in Gyeonggi-do province.
He also attended Uiduk University for a while and played for several clubs. One is the KGC club, with other examples like the Okayama Rivets and TT Saitama based in Japan.
Personal Life
The Korean player prefers to keep his personal life private; therefore, there’s not much information about it.
Social Media
While he is on Instagram, he isn’t very active and hasn’t posted anything new in a few years.
Career
Concerning his career, Lim Jong-hoon has a fairly impressive medal record. It includes two gold medals, one winning at the 2018 Incheon World Tour Grand Finals. The other came at the 2021 Doha Asian Championships.
He also has seven silver medals to his name. He got his first at the 2014 Mumbai Asian Junior Championships in Mumbai. He then got another three years later at the 2017 Taipei Summer Universiade. The others came at the 2018 Asian Games, 2018 World Cup, 2019 World Cup, 2021 Asian Championships, and 2021 Houston World Championships.
As for bronze medals, he has six. Hist first came after an impressive stint at the 2011 Asian Junior Championships in Jiangyin in the Cadet Boys team event. In the team event, he won another bronze at the 2012 World Junior Championships.
2014, he got his third bronze at the Mumbai Asian Junior Championships in the junior boys’ doubles event. His last three came from the 2017 Summer Universiade in Taipai, the 2018 Halmstad World Championships, and the 2018 Incheon World Tour Grand Finals.
Between 2018 and 2019, he played for the Okayama Rivets before moving to TT Saitama. He has played against some of the biggest names in the world, including Fan Zhendong and Ma Long.
He also played against Ma Long, considered by many the greatest ping-pong player ever.
Playing Style
Jong-hoon is a left-handed player who uses a shakehand grip for his paddle. He can use his backhand to return balls from an attack by his opponent. That said, once he decides to attack with power, he’ll often switch to his forehand.
Naturally, his paddle must be in tip-top shape for this kind of play, emphasizing the importance of caring for your equipment. If you also want to keep yours in tip-top shape, our list of best ping-pong paddle cases could be helpful.
World Championships
Jong-hoon took part in the 2021 World Championships coming away with a silver medal at the end of the event. This was for his contribution to the doubles. Before that, he had previously won a bronze at the 2018 Halmstad World Championship for the team event.
Asian Championships
Concerning the Asian Championships, he has two medals, one silver, and one gold. Both came from the 2021 Asian Championships. The silver was for the doubles event, while he and his team won gold.
Lim Jonghoon’s Ranking
When Lim Jong-hoon first broke into the world rankings in 2010, he was placed in position 708. A month later, he had moved to position 560. May 2017 was when he broke into the top 100, ending up 66th in the world.
He first got into the top 20 in December 2018, although his ranking dropped significantly between 2020 and 2022. However, he was able to crawl into the 16th position in November 2022, a position he has maintained since.
Net Worth and Income
While his net worth and income are unknown, the ping pong player benefits from several sponsorship deals and what he gets from playing for various clubs. As such, the Korean talisman is pretty well-off.
Lim Jong-hoon Equipment
Videos
Final Thoughts
Nevertheless, Lim Jong-Hoon is still young, and there’s a chance he might break into the top ten or even the top five before he reaches the end of his career.