(Olympics) S Korea-handball

▲ Ryu Eun-hee of South Korea (C) tries to score against Sweden in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympic women's handball tournament at Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo on Aug. 4, 2021. (Yonhap)

(Olympics) S Korea-handball

(Olympics) S. Korea drops to Sweden in women's handball quarters

TOKYO, Aug. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea lost to Sweden 39-30 in the women's handball quarterfinals at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday, coming up empty for the third straight Summer Games.

Kang Kyung-min's team-high eight goals weren't enough for South Korea at Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo, as Sweden never trailed in the victory.

South Korea squeezed into the quarterfinals as the fourth seed from Group A. Sweden won Group B and had little trouble dispatching South Korea.

South Korea won a handball medal at six out of seven Olympics from 1984 to 2008, including back-to-back gold medals in 1988 and 1992.

But South Korea lost in the bronze medal game in 2012 and failed to make it out of the group stage in 2016. It was badly overmatched against Sweden, which opened up a 7-2 lead about seven minutes into the contest and was up 21-13 at halftime.

Sweden remained comfortably ahead after scoring the first three goals of the second half. South Korea was down by as much as 37-25 but battled back to make the final score more respectable.

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