Korea lose to Vietnam 2-0, closing sepaktakraw with women's regu bronze

The Korean women's regu team added a bronze medal in sepaktakraw at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Friday with a 2-0 loss to Vietnam in the semifinals.

Korea's Wi Ji-seon serves the ball during a women's regu preliminary match against Myanmar on Thursday at the Hangzhou Asian Games. [XINHUA]

The Korean women's regu team closed out the national team's sepaktakraw schedule at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Friday, taking bronze with a 2-0 loss to Vietnam in the semifinals.

The undefeated Vietnamese team won the first set 21-9, taking only 18 minutes on the court to do so. Vietnam won the second set even faster, taking 17 minutes to end with the scoreboard at 21-7.

In sepaktakraw at the Asian Games, the loser of the semifinal round is automatically awarded bronze.

In regu, three players take each side of the court: a feeder, striker and tekong. To start each rally, the feeder throws the ball to the tekong, who leaps up and smashes the ball across the court in a serve. The tekong will typically stay near the back during the match, while the striker is the one primarily responsible for blocks. The first side to 21 points wins.

The last time women’s regu was a medal category within the sport was at the 2014 Games in Incheon, where Korea took silver.

The Korean women’s sepaktakraw regu team earlier opened the tournament with a win and a loss on Thursday, the first day of the preliminary stage.

Korea defeated Myanmar 2-0 in their first game on the court at the Jinhua Sports Centre Gymnasium in Jinhua, China but failed to ride that momentum against defending champions Thailand in their second game of the day, losing 2-0.

Korea’s Friday loss marked the end of the national team’s sepakakraw schedule at this year’s Asian Games, finishing with the three medals — one silver and two bronze.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]