‘Wheelchair Tennis’ National Team Leader Lim Ho-won,
9 consecutive wins in men’s singles at the Paralympic Games
After being eliminated in the round of 32 in singles and the quarterfinals in doubles in Paris
‘An evening of tears’ with team members… “It was touching and fun”
“The result is disappointing, but I have no regrets… I will try again for a medal in LA.”
On the 6th, Lim Ho-won, a member of the national wheelchair tennis team, poses before an interview at the Gwangju Citizens Gymnasium tennis court in Gyeonggi-do. Reporter Jeong Da-bin
Gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, gold, gold!
It is truly a march of gold. Lim Howon (26, Sports Toto Korea) achieved his 9th consecutive victory in the wheelchair tennis singles at the 44th National Sports Festival for the Disabled held in Gimhae, Gyeongsangnam-do on October 29. In fact, there is no one in Korea who can follow Lim Ho-won in wheelchair tennis. Lim Ho-won, whom we met at the Gwangju Citizens’ Gymnasium in Gyeonggi Province on the 6th, relaxed and said, “Because I have always won gold medals in sports competitions, I have greater expectations about going to see how much the new players’ skills have developed rather than the confidence or stimulation (due to this).”
This is why we looked higher at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games. Paris was the third Paralympic Games for Lim Ho-won, who lost his leg in an accident at the age of 9 and began exercising at the age of 11.
Lim Ho-won (left) and Han Seong-bong of the wheelchair tennis team are playing against the pair of Miki Takuya and Oda Tokio (Japan) in the men’s doubles quarterfinals of the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games held at Roland Garros in Paris, France on September 3 (Korean time). Provided by Korea Sports Association for the Disabled
Until Rio 2016, the first Paralympic Games, a medal was a dream. “During Rio, I was young, inexperienced, and nervous, so I focused on experiencing the Paralympic Games rather than on medals,” he said. Lim Howon, who was 18 years old at the time, entered the Paralympic Games as a wild card.
In Tokyo 2020, expectations were raised by advancing on one’s own for the first time, but the seeding was an obstacle. If you receive a seed, you can take a relatively easy path by passing the first round with a bye and then meeting a non-seeded player in the second round. However, due to the inability to participate in international competitions frequently due to COVID-19, they were unable to receive a seed due to their low ranking.
On the 6th, Lim Ho-won, a member of the national wheelchair tennis team, poses before an interview at the Gwangju Citizens Gymnasium tennis court in Gyeonggi-do. Reporter Jeong Da-bin
Paris had higher expectations than ever… “I trained even while I was sleeping.”
Change began to sprout last year. At last year’s Hangzhou Asian Para Games doubles, together with Han Seong-bong (39, Dalseong-gun Office), he achieved the feat of winning the gold medal for the first time in the doubles history of this competition. Afterwards, he won the doubles title again at the European away tournament in July, raising his world ranking to 18th at the time (Han Seong-bong, currently 55th) and 16th (Lim Howon, currently 18th). This is the result of sweat and sweat from dawn to morning, afternoon, and night training during the hot summer of last year. Ho-won Lim said, “Because it was so hot, I sweated a lot, got hurt a lot, and got scolded by the coach, so I trained really hard.” He added, “Not only that, I even split my rest time and sleeping time to watch the game video and analyze it with my older brother Seong-bong (Han). “We repeatedly analyzed it,” he said.
But the results were disastrous. The singles team, which had hoped for a bronze medal, was eliminated in the round of 32, and the doubles team, which had hoped for a silver medal or higher, had to pack up in the quarterfinals. In the end, I burst into tears not only immediately after the game, but that evening while eating with the coach and trainer in the athletes’ village room. Ho-won Lim jokingly said, “The director cried first, so I couldn’t help but cry,” and then looked back, “It was a very touching and funny moment.”
Lim Ho-won, a member of the wheelchair tennis team, is playing against the pair of Takuya Miki and Tokio Oda (Japan) in the men’s doubles quarterfinals of the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games held at Roland Garros in Paris, France on September 3 (Korean time). Provided by Korea Sports Association for the Disabled
“After the Paris Games, all that remains are ‘happy memories’”
He said, “It would be a lie if I said I didn’t feel any regret, but the tears I shed at that time were not tears of regret or disappointment.” “I cried a lot after winning the gold medal in Hangzhou. At that time, I thought, ‘Oh, it doesn’t have to be hard anymore’ or ‘It’s over,’ but in Paris it was different.” Ho-won Lim said, “The result was disappointing, but I played the match without any regrets, so all I have left are happy memories. The preparation period was very difficult, but even that made me think, ‘It’s okay to do it again.’”
He also expressed his gratitude to Han Seong-bong, who was with him. Lim Ho-won said, “(Han) Seongbong is older than me, but I have more experience, so I felt pressured to lead him well, but when we started working together, not only did he follow me well, but he also took good care of me in many ways. “he said. He continued, “I had high expectations and it was fun just to be able to participate in a big competition with a player I was comfortable with.” He added, “We talked a lot about ‘let’s do this and that’, but we performed well in the actual competition, so I have no regrets.” “I don’t think there are any left,” he added.
On the 6th, Lim Ho-won, a member of the national wheelchair tennis team, poses before an interview at the Gwangju Citizens Gymnasium tennis court in Gyeonggi-do. Reporter Jeong Da-bin
Challenge the Taegeuk mark again on the 11th… “I will do my best until the end.”
Howon Lim will participate in the national team selection competition for four days starting on the 11th. Immediately after the Paralympics, she won the Taiwan Open (won both singles and doubles), and then competed in the National Sports Festival, so she was not able to rest properly and had a finger injury, so things were not good, but her confidence was still there. He said, “The original injury got worse after the Paralympics, so I am receiving treatment after a thorough examination. I will be able to rest well after the selection competitions, so I will do my best until the end.”
Regarding the last question about his goal as an athlete, he said, “I hope more athletes will be inspired by me in the future and think of me as a rival. I will also continue to upgrade my skills and maintain competitiveness to win Korea’s first medal at the LA Paralympic Games.” I made up my mind.
Jinju Kim reporter [email protected]
