Korea falls one point short of women’s foil gold against Japan at Asian Games

Korea won the silver medal in the women's foil team fencing at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Saturday, losing to host Japan by one point.

The quartet of Park Ji-hee, Mo Byeol-i, Sim So-eun and Lee Se-joo lost to Japan 29-28 in the event's final at Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Japan.

The team sought its first gold medal in the women's team foil event since 2014 but fell one step short.

The bronze medals went to China and Hong Kong.

Team fencing events are contested in nine head-to-head bouts. Each bout lasts three minutes, but it ends when one team's score reaches a multiple of five.

A team that scores 45 points first or has more points than the opponent at the end of the ninth bout wins the event.

In foil, fencers use a light thrusting weapon and target the torso, not the arms or head.

After losing the first four bouts, Korea took the lead in the fifth bout behind Park, the silver medalist in the individual epee event.

However, in the ninth and final bout, Park gave up seven straight points, surrendering the lead as Japan won 29-28.

After the match, Park broke out in tears, saying she still has much to learn.

"I think we should've done better in the middle," she said. "I still have a long way to go, but thanks to my teammates' help, I've made it this far."

She said the one-point loss to Japan, a world-class team that won bronze at the Paris Olympics, gave the Korean team hope for taking the next step.

"In previous meetings with Japan, we lost by a large margin, but today, we did well," Park said. "It's very hard to get an Olympic ticket, but we will work hard to achieve it."

Yonhap