South Korean men’s badminton finished the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games with a bronze medal in the team event.

The Koreans lost 2-3 to India in the men’s team final at the Binjiang Gymnasium in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province, on Tuesday.

South Korea’s momentum, which included back-to-back victories over top-ranked Malaysia in the quarterfinals and Indonesia in the semifinals, came to a screeching halt on the final day.

However, they overcame their relative disadvantage to take home the bronze medal, somewhat erasing the pain of their quarter-final exit at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games.

Korea Badminton also fulfilled its target of qualifying in all seven events at the Games.

In the team event, which was played in the order of singles-doubles-singles-doubles-doubles-singles, the Koreans had to battle back from one game to take the next.

The match, which started at 5pm local time, ended at 10.10pm, more than five hours later.

First up was world No. 47 Jeon Hyuk-jin (Yonex), who came from behind to lose a close 1-2 (21-18 16-21 19-21) to world No. 7 H.S. Prannoy.

After exchanging the first and second sets, Jeon took a 16-13 lead in the third set but found himself 17-20 down on the back of his opponent.

He fought back to within one point with precise drop shots and body flicks, but at 19-20, Choe’s push attack went off the court.

The second pair, Seo Seung Jae-Kang Min Hyuk (formerly Samsung Life – World No. 4), levelled the match with a 2-0 (21-13 26-24) victory over World No. 3 Satwikseraj Lankireddy-Chirag Shetty.

After taking the first set with a bold attack, Seo Seung Jae and Kang Min Hyuk were down 11-15 at one point in the second set, but fought back to 18-19 with aggressive net play.

An unforced error on their serve gave them set point, but two powerful smashes brought the match to deuce.

She then scored back-to-back points at 24-24 to end the tense encounter.

Games 3 and 4 saw India and Korea exchange a game apiece, with each side putting in a dominant performance.

In game three, the momentum tilted in India’s favour as Lee Yoon Kyu (Kim Cheon Cheong) fell to world number 14 Lakshya Sen 0-2 (7-21 9-21).

With the deficit deepening, the fourth pair of Kim Won-ho (Samsung Life) and Na Sung-seung (Gimcheon City Hall) kept a glimmer of hope alive with a 2-0 (21-16 21-11) victory over M.R. Arjun-Drub Kapila.

With the match tied at 2-2, the fifth player to serve out the match was world No. 163 KIM Sang-yup (Seongnam City Hall).

The world No. 21 showed a gutsy performance against Kidambi Srikanth to take the first set, but ultimately lost the match 1-2 (21-12 16-21 14-21) due to inexperience. 스포츠토토