Korea’s Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun take silver in badminton mixed doubles

Korea’s Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun took silver in the badminton mixed doubles on Friday, losing in two games to China’s Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong in Paris on Friday.

Korea's Kim Won-ho, left, and Jeong Na-eun play China's Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong in the badminton mixed doubles gold medal match at the 2024 Paris Olympics in Paris on Friday. [AP/YONHAP]

Korea’s Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun took silver in the badminton mixed doubles on Friday, losing in two games to China’s Zheng Si Wei and Huang Ya Qiong in Paris on Friday.

Kim and Jeong struggled from the start against the world No.1s, losing the first game 21-8 and the second 21-11. A brief rally at the start of the second game briefly got the pair back into the match, but they were unable to seriously hold off the Chinese onslaught.

With the silver medal, Kim and Jeong became the first Korean pair to medal in mixed doubles since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Kim Won-ho also joins his mother on the list of Korean badminton players to win an Olympic medal in mixed double — she took gold in the discipline at Atlanta 1996.

The pair also had the unusual honor of being the first mixed doubles team ever to lose twice in the group stage of an Olympic competition and still manage to fight their way all the way through to the gold medal match.

Kim and Jeong arrived in the gold medal match after beating compatriots Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jung in a close-fought semifinal yesterday. Seo and Chae went on to compete in the bronze medal match against Japan’s Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higoshino earlier on Friday, but lost that match in two games to miss out on a podium spot.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]