Badminton men’s team loses to India in five-hour semifinal… Bronze medal harvest
The South Korean men’s badminton team failed to qualify for the final of the team event at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Tuesday, losing to India in a nearly five-hour battle in the semifinals. The South Koreans settled for bronze, as the Games do not hold separate third- and fourth-place matches and award bronze medals to all semifinalists.
South Korea lost to India by a match score of 2 to 3 in the semifinals at the Binjiang Gymnasium in Hangzhou earlier in the day. The team had been on a roll, defeating powerhouse Malaysia in the round of 16 and Asia’s top-ranked Indonesia in the quarterfinals, but fell short on the final day. However, the bronze medal made up for their quarterfinal exit at the 2018 Asian Games Jakarta-Palembang.
South Korea fielded world No. 47 Jeon Hyuk-jin (28) at No. 1 singles. Jeon fought hard against World No. 7 Hashina Sunil Kumar Prannoy and came from behind to take the game 1-2 (21-18 16-21 19-21). However, the reigning World Champions and World No. 4 duo Seo Seung Jae (26)-Kang Min Hyuk (24) came to the rescue at second doubles, sweeping the World No. 3 pair of Satwikseraj Lankireddy-Chirag Shetty 2-0 (21-13 26-24) to level the match.
South Korea and India also split the third singles and fourth doubles. In the third singles, Lee Yoon-gyu (26) fell to world No. 14 Lakshya Sen 0-2 (7-21 9-21), but in the fourth doubles, Kim Won-ho (24) and Na Sung-seung (24) swept the Indian pair 2-0 (21-16 21-11).
The match was decided in the final five singles. Playing in the fifth singles, KIM Sang-yup (27) won the first set against world No. 21 Kidambi 토토사이트 Srikanth, but dropped two sets in a row to lose the match 2-1 (21-12 16-21 14-21).
Meanwhile, in the women’s team event earlier in the day, South Korea, led by world No. 1 singles player Ahn Se-young (21), defeated Thailand 3-1 in straight sets to reach the final. Korea will play China for the gold medal in the final at 10 a.m. ET on Sunday.