“We will work harder in the team competition”.
The men’s and women’s fencing teams are in action on the first day of fencing events at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Sunday (Aug. 27) at the fencing center in Grand Palais, France. The women’s individual epee and men’s individual sabre events will be held today. Song Sera (Busan City Hall), Kang Young-mi (Gwangju Seo-gu Office) and Lee Hye-in (Gangwon-do Provincial Office) are competing in the women’s epee. In the men’s sabre individual competition, Oh Sang-wook (Daejeon City Hall), Park Sang-won (Daejeon City Hall), and Koo Bon-gil (Kumin Sports Corporation) competed.
The epee and sabre individual competition will feature the round of 32, round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals all in one day. France, the host country of these Olympic Games, is a fencing powerhouse. The modern sport originated in France, which is why fencing competitions are held in French. France, along with Italy, is a fencing powerhouse and the sport is incredibly popular. In fact, fencing is one of the most popular Olympic sports in France.
For South Korea, fencing is also a favorite, having won three consecutive gold medals in recent Olympics. However, South Korea hasn’t won an individual gold medal since 2016, when Park Sang-young won a medal at the Rio de Janeiro ‘Can Do’ Games. Earlier in the day, Song Sera, Kang Young-mi and Lee Hye-in performed well in the women’s individual epee, qualifying for the round of 32.
Earlier in the day, all Korean players fell in the women’s epee. Kang Young-mi, ranked 21st in the world, battled hard against Nellie Dippert (Estonia, World No. 12) in the round of 32, but lost 13-14 in overtime. Lee Hye-in, the last of the Korean women to compete, lost 13-15 to Yu Shihan (China, World No. 18) in the round of 32.
Women’s national team ace Song Sera maintained a consistent lead against World No. 26 Martina Svatovska-Bęglaczyk (POL), winning 15-11 in the round of 16. In the round of 16, she was eliminated by a dominant Muhari Ester (HUN, World No. 10), 6-15.
In the men’s fencing, Oh Sang-wook and Park Sang-won advanced to the round of 32 without their eldest brother Koo Bon-gil. Oh met Ali Fakdaman (Iran, World No. 14) in the 파워볼실시간 round of 16 to advance to the quarterfinals. Oh Sang-wook showed a better side after his victory. After a slow first period in which he was down three points, Oh regrouped and quickly turned the game around. He scored back-to-back points to end the first period with an 8-7 lead.
In the second period, Oh showed his true colors. He took advantage of his opponent’s over-analyzing to score with a fierce poke. With the score at 14-10 less than 30 seconds into the second period, Oh extended the lead to 15-10 with 2:34 left in the period with an accurate poke.
Meanwhile, in the round of 32, World No. 28 Park Sang-won (KOR) pulled off an upset against World No. 5 Colin Hitchcock (USA) but fell in the round of 16. In the round of 16, he took the lead against Sen Chenfeng (CHN), ranked 21st in the world, but was unable to capitalize on his late game.
“Unfortunately, I think I was too greedy in the match,” Park said in the Mix Zone after the match. However, it was a match that I wanted to win so badly.” ”Unlike the round of 32, I couldn’t keep my composure. I think that’s why I had a difficult match,” she said.
Park Sang-won, who is competing in his first Olympics, said, “I will never forget this tournament. It’s a great honor just to be able to play in such a wonderful place,” said Park.
Now Park has to focus on the team competition. “The individual competition is over now. I want to unite with my brothers in the remaining team competition and achieve good results,” he said, adding, ”We will prepare well to do our best in our respective positions.”
Regarding the team competition, Park said, “I think we need to communicate more with my brothers, and we need to raise the atmosphere even more than we are doing now. In the team competition, I need to trust my brothers behind me and do my part without any pressure, and if I think like this, good results will come.”
“I’m still a long way off,” said Park, who is regarded as the next generation of Korean men’s fencing, ‘but I’m naturally happy and honored to hear that I’m the next generation.’ ‘I plan to do my best,’ he said.