YANGYOUNG-JA

The year she turned 14, as a second-year middle school student, she won the singles at the National Student Championships. In 1979, she won the team event at the Canada Open with the junior national team.

The year she turned 17, as a second-year at Iil Girls’ High School, she was picked for the senior national team. In 1982, she won singles, doubles and team at the Seoul International Open.

The breakthrough yearThe year she turned 19, she beat Chinese players in turn to reach the final of the women’s singles at the Tokyo World Championships and finished runner-up. It was the first runner-up finish in an individual event for Korean table tennis, and Lee Young-mi’s column writes that the tournament turned a then-unknown player into a table tennis hero.

In 1986, she beat Hyun Jung-hwa 3-0 at the first Table Tennis Choegangjeon, and the two were paired in doubles. She also won the team event at the Seoul Asian Games. In 1987, she won doubles with Hyun Jung-hwa and was runner-up in singles at the New Delhi World Championships. In 1988, she won the gold medal in women’s doubles with Hyun Jung-hwa at the Seoul Olympics. Kyeonggi Ilbo writes that she became a star overnight with this gold medal.

In February 1989, she announced her retirement. In 1992, she married a former news agency reporter. From 1997, she lived in Mongolia as a missionary with WEC International Korea. In 2004, she moved her mission field to Inner Mongolia, China.

In 2006, she was an SBS commentator at the Doha Asian Games. In 2008, she met Hyun Jung-hwa again at the unveiling of a sculpture at the Beijing Olympic table tennis venue.

In 2012, she returned to Korea after 15 years and became coach of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee’s program for young table tennis prospects. In 2018, she taught citizens and students at a table tennis school in Hanam. In 2019, she appeared on Achim Madang, and a children’s book, Geummedalboda Meotjin Kkumi Isseoyo, came out.

In 2024, she announced the establishment of the Yang Young-ja Table Tennis Mission. Seoul Economic Daily writes that Lee Eun-hye, who won bronze in the women’s team event at the Paris Olympics in August, was naturalized after meeting Yang, who was working as a missionary. In 2025, she was invited to the New Life Festival at Sincheon Presbyterian Church in Siheung. In 2026, she held an international youth table tennis camp and an international Christian table tennis tournament, and took part in the mission event at the Gangneung World Masters and the Gyeongnam Table Tennis Mission festival.

Yang Young-ja (born 1964) was picked for the senior national team in 1981, the year she turned 17, and became known in 1983, the year she turned 19, as runner-up in women’s singles at the Tokyo World Championships. She won the Seoul Olympic women’s doubles gold medal in 1988, the year she turned 24.

Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.