Korea wins silver in men's doubles badminton

Choi Sol-gyu, right, and Kim Won-ho of Korea compete during the round of 16 competition of the men's doubles badminton event at the Binjiang Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China, at the 19th Asian Games, Oct. 4. Yonhap

Korea won the silver medal in the men's mixed doubles badminton event at the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games in China, Saturday

Choi Sol-gyu and Kim Won-ho lost to the Indian pair, Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) in the gold medal match held at the Binjiang Gymnasium in Hangzhou.

This was Korea's fifth medal in the "shuttlecock" at the Hangzhou Games, including a gold medal in the women's team event.

The Choi-Kim duo lost the first game 21-18 as they struggled with the Indians' hard smashing and wide court coverage. They were leading the game until the 18th point but allowed six straight points to their opponent and lost the game.

The second game was one-sided. After tying at 3-3, the South Koreans could not take the lead for the rest of the game.

When India made a comeback to 19-18 in the first game, Choi received a yellow card from the umpire after requesting a shuttlecock change. After that, South Korea could not stop the Indian team's upbeat pace.

"The shuttlecock was broken and I asked the umpire to change it but she gave me the card. I was embarrassed," Choi said at the mixed zone. "We've prepared a lot for this competition, but the Indian team was strong and their offensive plays were hard to overcome."

Kim said his initial goal was to win the Asian Games title in the men's doubles but the silver was as good as the gold medal as he got fresh momentum to work hard for the future.

"In the first game, I felt some pressure to get three more points and lost composure," he said. "This is not the end of my badminton. I have become more confident that I can go up further after this competition. I'll keep working hard to improve." (Yonhap)