Women's Fencing ?p?e Team Loses to France in Quarterfinals [Paris Olympics]

The women's ?p?e team representing South Korea, aiming for the gold medal in the team event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, was defeated by the host country France in their first match and failed to advance to the semifinals, missing out on a medal.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The women's ?p?e team, consisting of Song Sera (Busan Metropolitan City Hall), Lee Hyein (Gangwon Provincial Office), Kang Youngmi (Seo-gu Office, Gwangju), and Choi Injeong (Gyeryong City Hall), lost 31-37 to France in the quarterfinals of the women's ?p?e team event held on the 30th at the Grand Palais in Paris.

The women's ?p?e team, which won silver medals in the team events at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, came to Paris hoping not only to win a medal for the second consecutive time but also to achieve their first-ever gold medal.

Choi Injeong, who had retired from the national team last year, made a surprise return this year, and the same members who won the Tokyo Olympic silver medal and the team gold medal at last year's Hangzhou Asian Games participated in this tournament. However, they suffered a setback in the first match and were pushed into the classification rounds.

The women's ?p?e team trailed throughout the match, starting with Song Sera falling 2-3 to Marie Florance Candassamy in the first round.

Korean fencing, which ended the first day of the team events without a medal, will aim for gold in the men's sabre team event on the 31st.

The men's sabre team will attempt to win their third consecutive Olympic team gold medal following London and Tokyo (the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games were excluded due to event rotation).