Kwon Young-joon (right) of the fencing team
South Korea's men's fencing epee team had to settle for bronze for the second consecutive tournament after being eliminated in the semifinals.
The Korean team of Kwon Young-joon (Iksan City Hall), Ma Se-gun (Busan Metropolitan City Hall) and Kim Jae-won (Seokjeong Urban Development) lost 34-45 to Japan in the semifinals of the men's epee team event at Dianzu University Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China, on Monday.
It was the second consecutive bronze medal for Korea in the event.
The South Korean team of Kwon Young-joon (Iksan City Hall), Ma Se-gun (Busan Metropolitan City Hall) and Kim Jae-won (Seokjeong Urban Development) won the bronze medal in the semifinals of the men's epee team competition at Dianzu University Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China, on Monday.
Previously, the Korean men's epee won three consecutive team titles from 2006 in Doha to 2014 in Incheon. However, the team lost to China in the semifinals of the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, ending their four-game winning streak. They tried to get back on track with this tournament but failed.
After a hard-fought quarterfinal victory over China, Korea fell behind early against Japan. While Ma Se-gun and Kim Jae-won combined for three points in the opening game, they conceded nine points to fall behind 3-9.
Kwon Young-joon then won the next three bouts to make it 5-3, but the gap was still large at 8-12. From then on, Korea was unable to close the gap.
As the match progressed, the gap between Korea and Japan widened, and Korea lost by nine points, ending the tournament with a bronze medal.
Meanwhile, the Korean fencers added a bronze medal in the final event, the men's epee team event, to bring their total to six gold, three silver, and three bronze medals. 19가이드03