S. Korea wins silver in women's epee team fencing at Asian Games

TOKONAME, Japan — South Korea won the silver medal in the women's epee team fencing at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Friday, failing to defend its Asiad title. The quartet of Song Se-ra, Lim Tae-hee, Yang Seung-hye and Lee Hye-in lost to China 45-28 in the gold medal match at Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, some 35 kilometers south of the main host city of Nagoya, Japan. South Korea won the event at the previous Hangzhou Asian Games but finished runner-up at the 2026 Games. Song, who won the individual epee title on Tuesday, took the silver in the team event. Bronze medals went to Singapore and Kazakhstan. Team fencing events are contested in nine head-to-head bouts. Each bout is three minutes long, but it ends when one team's score reaches a multiple of five. A team scoring 45 points first or having more points than the opponent at the end of the ninth bout wins the event. In the epee event, fencers use a thrusting weapon, targeting the entire body. South Korea won the first two bouts to build a narrow 7-6 lead. However, China pushed back and took a 15-13 lead in the third bout, and maintain