The South Korean women's team foil fencing squad has claimed the silver medal at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Comprising Park Ji-hee, Shim So-eun (both from Seoul City Hall), Mo Byeol-i (Yeongjong-gu Office, Incheon), and Lee Se-ju (North Chungcheong Provincial Office), the women's foil team lost 28-29 to Japan in the team final held today at the Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

The women's team foil event is a discipline in which South Korea achieved five consecutive Asian Games titles from the 1998 Bangkok Games to the 2014 Incheon Games.

After settling for a bronze medal at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, the team reached the final and secured a silver medal for the second consecutive time following the 2022 Hangzhou Games held in 2023.

Park Ji-hee, a silver medalist in the individual event, has now claimed her second silver medal of the games.

In the team event, where the tournament bracket is determined based on the seeding of each country's individual competitors, South Korea received the No. 2 seed and received a bye in the Round of 16.

They defeated Macau 45-32 in the quarterfinals and gained momentum by overcoming formidable opponent China 43-35 in the semifinals.

Mo Byeol-i, who was eliminated in the Round of 16 of the individual event, played a stellar role by building a 10-7 lead against Zhang Situ in the third round, extending it to 21-16 in the fifth round against Fu Yingying, and widening the gap to 29-21 against Huang Qianqian in the seventh round.

Our national team put up a fierce fight against powerhouse Japan, which featured three players ranked in the top 10 globally, including the individual event champion of this tournament, Yuka Ueno.

Starting with the first runner Park Ji-hee trailing Sumire Tsuji 3-5, Mo Byeol-i closely contested against Ueno in the second round to narrow the gap to 5-6.

In the third round, Shim So-eun turned the match around against Sera Azuma to take a 9-6 lead, but subsequently conceded consecutive points to tie at 9-9.

In the fourth round, Mo Byeol-i clashed with Tsuji and relinquished the lead 11-13 after a seesaw battle, but Park Ji-hee successfully turned it around 16-14 in the fifth round against Azuma.

In the sixth round, Shim So-eun displayed focused offense and defense against Ueno, dominating the match and widening the score to 19-14.

In the seventh round where Mo Byeol-i faced Azuma, the score briefly stretched to 21-14 before narrowing down to 22-19 amid a fierce chase, but in the eighth round, Shim So-eun maintained a 26-22 lead in her match against Tsuji.

In the final ninth round featuring the aces of both teams, Park Ji-hee sought redemption in a rematch of the individual final against Ueno, but instead collapsed after conceding seven consecutive points from a 27-22 advantage.

Park Ji-hee scored a counter-attack point with 16 seconds remaining to make it 28-29, but there was not enough time left to overturn the match once again.

After the match, Park Ji-hee said, "It has only been a year since I started running as the anchor in the team event, and I came out thinking I had grown because my teammates trusted me a lot, but I still feel I am lacking a lot." She added, "Against Japan, whom we even lost to by double points during the World Cup, the younger teammates did so well that we could reach this point, which makes it disappointing."

Park Ji-hee also added, "Securing an Olympic qualification spot is really difficult, but I want to prepare well for the next two years to earn a berth at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and show a good performance."

(Photo: Yonhap News)