South Korea took silver in the women’s sabre fencing team event at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, after blowing a late lead against Ukraine in the final.

South Korea, world No. 4, lost to third-ranked Ukraine 45-42 at Grand Palais in the French capital.

Jeon Eun-hye, Jeon Ha-young, Choi Se-bin and alternate Yoon Ji-su tried to give South Korea its first gold in the women’s sabre team event. South Korea won bronze at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics but Yoon, 31, was the only carryover from that team in Paris.

South Korea held a 40-37 lead entering the ninth and final bout. But Olga Kharlan outscored Jeon Ha-young 8-2 to complete Ukraine’s comeback.

Team fencing matches are contested in a series of nine head-to-head bouts. Each bout is three minutes long but it ends when one team’s score reaches a multiple of five.

The objective is to score 45 points 추천 first or to have more points than the opponent at the end of the ninth bout.

Jeon Eun-hye lost the opening bout to Kharlan 5-3, but then Jeon Ha-young handled Yuliia Bakastova 7-3 to put South Korea up 10-8.

In the fourth bout, Jeon Eun-hye beat Bakastova 5-1 to extend South Korea’s lead to 20-14.

But Kharlan singlehandedly led Ukraine’s comeback. In the sixth bout, she outscored Choi 9-5 to make this a two-point match at 25-23 South Korea.