Ryu Seung-min (Korean pronunciation: [ju.sɯŋ.min]; born August 5, 1982 in Seoul, South Korea) is a Korean table tennis player who won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the men's singles competition.His opponent was Wang Hao, a top-seeded player from Chinese national team. Along the way, he defeated 1992 Olympic champion Jan-Ove Waldner with 4-1. At the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics he was part of the South Korean team that won the bronze and silver medals respectively. Ryu is ranked twenty-fifth in the world as of July 2013.
Style:
Ryu Seung-min plays penhold style. Unlike players like Ma Lin and Wang Hao, Ryu never uses the backside of his blade – in fact, he does not even have rubber on it. Ryu relies on his outstanding footwork, explosive forehand loops and drives to win points. For some time he used Xiom (South Korea) table paddles and rubbers playing with his signature model "Ryu Seung Min Special" penhold and has been using ProZRSM ever since his victory at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Lately he switched again to Butterfly (Japan) equipment and now he uses their RSM ZLC blade with Tenergy 64 rubbers.
As of December 1, 2012 he is ranked 20th in the world. His top ranking was world number 2 in September 2004, and since November 2001 he was always in top 25 of the ITTF world ranking list.
Career records:
Singles (as of April 9, 2015)
Olympics: Gold medal (2004).
World Championships: SF (2007).
World Cup appearances: 5. Record: runner-up (2007).
Pro Tour winner (3): Egypt, USA Open 2004; Chile Open 2008.
Runner-up (4): Swedish Open 2001; Brazil Open 2002; Japan Open 2005; Slovenian Open 2007; Kuwait Open 2012.
Pro Tour Grand Finals appearances: 9. Record: SF (2003, 05, 10).
Asian Games: SF (2006).
Asian Championships: SF (2003).
