'Shock Defeat in the Final' Fencing 女 Women's Epee Team Bows Head: "We Prepared So Much..." [Tokoname On-site]

*This content was translated by AI.

The South Korean women's epee fencing team, considered a strong gold medal contender at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya (Japan) Asian Games, suffered a shocking defeat in the final.

South Korea, composed of Song Se-ra (Busan Metropolitan City Government), Yang Seung-hye (Korea National Sport University), Im Tae-hee (Gyeryong City Government), and Lee Hye-in (Ulsan Metropolitan City Government), lost heavily to China 28-45 in the women's epee team final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held on the 25th at the Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

The South Korean women's epee team was ranked first in the world and had already secured gold in the individual epee event thanks to Song Se-ra, making them a strong favorite for the team gold as well. This marked their second consecutive attempt at defending the title after the 2022 Hangzhou Games, with Song Se-ra aiming for a double crown, but ultimately had to swallow her disappointment.

Despite winning a valuable silver medal, the athletes stood before reporters with somber expressions, unable to hide their regret. Eldest sister Song Se-ra said, "We prepared so much and endured very tough training, but I think our defeat was caused by too many mistakes in what we had prepared."

She added, "Defeat is always a bit disappointing. Personally, I wanted to win the gold medal together with my teammates, but my skills were not enough. As an older sister, I should have done more, and I fell short in that regard. Going forward, I think we must not rest on our laurels here and need to learn more and work harder."

Song Se-ra then expressed hope that today's decisive loss to China would serve as a turning point for the Na Eun (CEO) team.

Song Se-ra said, "We lost cleanly. It seems we now have even more to prepare for. On the contrary, we've been given homework, so we can now prepare more solidly and defeat China again." She added, "There is no room to retreat anymore. Today was also Chuseok. I wanted to bring you a gold medal, but it's disappointing," swallowing her regret once more.

Lee Hye-in also said, "We prepared hard to finish first, but we ended up second, which is regrettable. The teams that made it this far have worked very hard. I want to tell them that their efforts were not in vain."

Im Tae-hee, making her Asian Games debut, said, "I received a great gift of a silver medal at my first Asian Games. If I get the chance to compete again, I hope to improve and play even better games." Youngest member Yang Seung-hye added, "We won a valuable silver medal, and I am so grateful and happy for my older sisters."

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*This content was translated by AI.