© Provided by: Enter Media
[엔터미디어=정덕현] This time it’s table tennis. Sports entertainment, which has recently reached its heyday, is drawing various subjects such as soccer, badminton, and golf. tvN’s new entertainment program ‘All Table Tennis!’ brought table tennis as the subject. A demonic sport where legend videos would appear if you had already done it on KBS ‘2 Days & 1 Night’ in the past. It is also a sport where you can see famous scenes of players burning with a burning desire to compete anywhere with just a small table tennis table.
It was KBS ‘My Neighborhood Arts and Physical Education’ that showed the potential of the sport of table tennis in entertainment. Even at that time, in this sports entertainment that Kang Ho-dong played with, table tennis was the event that made him immerse himself in the program in the beginning. After that, in the KBS ‘Soccer Baseball Ball’, in the process of Park Chan-ho and Lee Young-pyo playing table tennis, Yoo Seung-min briefly appeared and conveyed the unique charm of this game.
© Provided by: Enter Media
‘All Table Tennis!’ is expected to show the process of Kang Ho-dong and Eun Ji-won forming separate teams and competing with each other, and through this, Yoo Seung-min, who is in charge of coaching, creates a team. So, first of all, ‘All Table Tennis!’ showed a table tennis match between Kang Ho-dong and Eun Ji-won, and the title of ‘table tennis revenge match for the first time in 12 years’ was put on it. This title was given because there was a warrior in the unprecedented (?) legend showdown where Eun Ji-won actually shaved her head in a table tennis match of the century with a shaved head in the past ‘2 Days & 1 Night’.
In fact, table tennis in the days of ‘1 Night 2 Days’ was more like a ‘fight for luck’ rather than a sport. The lack of skills of the performers at the time, which was also called ‘low quality table tennis’, was often filled with the desire to win, which was created by the confrontation. So what about now, 12 years later? Eun Ji-won said that she recently fell in love with table tennis, and that she plays table tennis for 11 hours a day. In the past, Kang Ho-dong learned table tennis in the days of ‘My Neighborhood Arts and Physical Education’ and showed his unique sense and desire to win as a sportsman.
© Provided by: Enter Media
Their first table tennis revenge match in 12 years was won by Kang Ho-dong, but the match was tight. The important thing is that, as Yoo Seung-min said, those who used to show a bit of entertainment in the beginning became more serious when they entered the game. Of course, since they are two people who have been working together as entertainers for a long time, it was impossible to leave out the entertainment industry. Every time Kang Ho-dong gave a point, he gave a laugh with his self-blame. However, between this type of entertainer and sincerity towards sports, what position should Kang Ho-dong focus more on?
In the past ‘2 Days & 1 Night’, there was more weight in entertainment that focused on laughter than sports itself. However, in recent years, sports entertainment tends to focus more on the sport itself than on the entertainment aspect. Although sports entertainment such as SBS’ ‘Goal Hitting Girls’ and JTBC’s ‘Get Together to Get Kicked’, as well as entertainment elements are added, it was able to gain viewers’ popularity by adding a ‘real soccer game’ and even fighting spirit with an injury.
© Provided by: Enter Media
Now, how much can ‘All Table Tennis!’, which is taking its first step, show the sincerity of the sport of table tennis? Above all, I have high expectations for Kang Ho-dong, but at the same time, there is a clear sense of old age. He was a legend of ssireum in the past, so I have no doubts that he will be more sincere in sports than anyone else, but it is also true that Kang Ho-dong has solidified his position as an entertainer rather than a sportsman over the years. So, while playing ping-pong, words and actions conscious of laughter became natural.
Of course, trying to give a smile can be a natural appearance as an entertainer, but it seems to be more important to focus on sports a little more in the present sports entertainment. Returning to a sportsman after a long time and fighting with a sword will be an opportunity to show his other true worth, and it will be an opportunity to have another spectrum of his adapting to the changed entertainment trend.
Columnist Duk-Hyun Jeong [email protected]
[사진=tvN]
