Women's Go team settle for silver after tough final

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Published: 03 Oct. 2023, 14:37 Updated: 03 Oct. 2023, 22:21

Women's Go team settle for silver after tough final

Korean Go pro Kim Eun-ji, left, competes in the women's team final at the Hangzhou Asian Games against Wu Yiming at Hangzhou Qi-yuan Chess Hall in Hangzhou, China on Tuesday. [NEWS1]

The Korean women’s Go team secured a silver medal after a 2-1 loss to China in the final at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Tuesday, adding one more medal in the sport on the last day of the Go schedule.

Go pro Shin Jin-seo takes bronze in men's individual competition

Team Korea — consisting of Kim Eun-ji, Oh Yu-jin and Choi Jeong — went against Wu Yiming, Yu Zhiying and Li He of China at Hangzhou Qi-yuan Chess Hall in Hangzhou, China.

The final took place with a one-on-one format.

Kim faced Wu and lost the game 2-0. Oh took on China's Yu and won that game 2-0, but Choi lost her game 2-0 to Li, ending the contest with a final score of 2-1 for China and a silver medal for Korea.

The silver was Korea’s first silver in Go at this year’s Asiad and the country’s second medal in the sport after Shin Jin-seo won bronze in the men’s individual competition on Thursday last week.

Go — better known as Baduk in Korea — along with several other table games such as chess, xiangqi and bridge, is one of the “mind sports” in which countries can pick up medals at this year’s Asian Games.

The basic goal of Go, a two-person game played with black and white pieces on either side, is to surround more territory than your opponent on the board. The game ends when both players pass their turns or one player concedes.

Go was not a medal sport at the last Games in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2018. It was offered only once before at the 2010 Games in Guangzhou, China.

Korea is guaranteed one more medal on Tuesday, as the men’s team is still set to compete in the final against China. As of press time Tuesday, the final was due to take place at 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. Korea time.

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