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Men's sabre team bags Korea's sixth gold on the piste

Published: 28 Sep. 2023, 20:58

JIM BULLEY
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Gu Bon-gil of Korea, right, competes against Shen Chenpeng of China during the final of the men's sabre team event at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China on Thursday. [AP/YONHAP]

Team Korea won the men’s sabre team event at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Thursday, topping the fencing podium for the sixth time and tying the gold medal haul from the 2018 Asiad.

Korea’s Oh Sang-uk, Gu Bon-gil and Kim Jun-ho romped to a decisive 45-33 win over China at the Hangzhou Dianzi University Gymnasium Final Piste in Hangzhou, China, taking the lead in the second round and holding on to it throughout the match.

Korea adds two more team golds in men's foil, women's épée

The victory brings Korea its third gold medal in sabre, following individual medals to Oh in the men’s event and Yoon Ji-su in the women’s. Gu also won silver in the men’s individual event, giving Korea two golds and a silver in men’s sabre alone.

The team sabre mens was not the only medal Korea picked up on Thursday evening, with the women’s foil team taking silver after a close-fought 34-31 loss to China in the final.

Korea’s Hong Se-na, Chae Song-oh and Hong Hyo-jin put up a good fight in the gold medal match, trading the lead with China right up until the penultimate bout when Chen Qingyuan suddenly rallied to dominate Hong Se-na and claim a five-point lead.

That bout turned out to be the decider, with Chae unable to recover the deficit and Korea losing the match by three points.

The silver is Korea’s second medal in foil, following a victory by the men’s team one day earlier.

Korea now has six gold — men’s sabre individual, women’s épée individual, women’s sabre individual, men’s team foil, women’s team épée and men’s team sabre — three silver and one bronze medal in fencing at the Hangzhou Games, dominating the sport-specific medal table and tying their 2018 Games result on gold medals.

Two more opportunities to medal on the piste remain, with the women’s sabre team and men’s épée team both to be contested on Friday. Korea are the reigning champions in the women’s sabre.

BY JIM BULLEY [[email protected]]