There was no ‘best moment of our lives’. The Korean women’s handball team, which challenged the Olympic quarterfinals for the first time in 9 years, finished the Tokyo Olympics in the quarterfinals.
The women’s handball team regrets losing to powerhouse Sweden in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics [뉴스1]
South Korea lost 30-39 to Sweden in the women’s quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics held at Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo on the 4th. Although he was aiming for the first Olympic semifinal since the 2012 London Olympics (4th place), he failed to overcome the tall Swedish wall.
It wasn’t easy at first. Sweden defeated the traditional powerhouse Russian Olympic Committee by 12 goals in the group B group stage, and also defeated Spain, the runner-up team at the 2019 World Championships. He was selected as the strongest candidate for the gold medal by winning a ticket to the quarterfinals as the first place in the group. On the other hand, Korea had 1 win, 1 draw and 3 losses, making it to 4th place in the group and making it to the quarterfinals with difficulty.
Korea Republic were tight 2-3 until the 4th minute of the first half. However, they conceded five goals in a row to Sweden in the next five minutes, leading to a 2-8 lead. The score gap with Sweden continued to widen after that, and the first half ended 13-21.
Korea did not score for more than 7 minutes even after the start of the second half. In the end, the gap widened 13-24, effectively confirming defeat. Kang Kyung-min scored 8 goals and Kim Jin-hee scored 7 goals, respectively, but the Korean national team ace mainpo Ryu Eun-hee was tied to the opponent’s focus mark and scored only one goal.
By Bae Young-eun, staff reporter bae.youngeun@joongang.co.kr
