South Korea grabbed the silver medal in the 2023 International Skating Union(ISU) World Team Trophy that ended in Tokyo on Sunday thanks to male figure skater Cha Jun-hwan.

Cha finished first in the men’s single free skating event, the last event of the competition, on Saturday to raise South Korea’s final points total to 95, securing second place in the overall rankings after the U.S., while Japan came in third ahead of Italy, France and Canada.

The ISU World Team Trophy in Figure Skating is a biennial event that started in 2009 in which the top six ISU members are invited to compete in both the short program/rhythm dance and the free skating/free dance segments.

With the result, South Korea won a medal in its debut appearance in the competition.

Cha’s performance on Saturday came as the chances for South Korea to win a silver medal became bleak after its rankings slipped to the bottom earlier in the day. However, Cha ended up adding 12 points to South Korea’s total, which was just one more point than Japan’s.