Korean women's handball team beat China to reach final

Korea's Lee Mi-gyeong shoots during the women's handball semifinal game against China at the Hangzhou Asian Games held at Zhejiang Gongshang University Sports Centre in Jinhua, China on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

The Korean women’s handball team beat China 30-23 in the semifinal at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Tuesday as they continued a bid to win a third consecutive Asiad gold medal.

Korea faced China at Zhejiang Gongshang University Sports Centre in Jinhua, China and scored multiple goals to make it 5-1 in the early going.

China scored a series of goals to snatch the lead, but Korea denied them a comeback and ended the first half at 15-14.

With one goal separating the two, China seemed to have a chance of turning things around in the second half, but Korea ’s persistent attacks only extended their lead.

The score became 26-19 by the 52nd minute and the victory seemed guaranteed for Korea by that point. With Lee Mi-gyeong’s last goal for the team, the game ended with a 30-23 win for Korea.

The win marked the third successive time that the Korean women’s team has reached the Asiad handball final, having secured two gold medals at the 2014 and 2018 Asian Games.

The Korean women’s team is now guaranteed a silver or gold this year.

The final will take place on Thursday at the same venue, with the opponent yet to be decided. The Korean women’s team is already the winningest in Asiad history, with seven gold and one bronze medals over eight tournaments.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]