Korean players celebrate after winning against Japan during the women's sabre team final match at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 in Nagoya, Japan, on Sept. 27.AP/YONHAP
Korea won gold in the women’s sabre fencing team event at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 on Sunday, delivering the country’s fourth fencing title.
The team, comprising Choi Se-bin, Jeon Ha-young, Seo Ji-yeon and Kim Jeong-mi, took down Japan’s Misaki Emura, Yui Sano, Yuina Kaneko and Seri Ozaki 45-31 at Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, south of the main host city, Nagoya, Japan.
None of the Korean fencers won an individual medal earlier in the competition but won the team title together.
Choi was on the 2023 Asian Games team that won bronze behind Uzbekistan and Japan.
Korea finished fencing with four gold medals, four silver medals and two bronze medals.
Team fencing events are contested in nine head-to-head bouts. Each bout is three minutes but ends when one team’s score reaches a multiple of five.
The team that scores 45 points first or has more points than the opponent at the end of the ninth bout wins the event.
Choi opened the match by beating Emura 5-2, and Jeon took the next bout against Sano 5-4.
Seo fought an early push from Kaneko and won her duel by 5-2, pushing Korea’s lead to 15-8.
Korean fencer Jeon Ha-young, right, celebrates a point against Japan's Misaki Emura during the women's sabre team final match at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 in Nagoya, Japan, on Sept. 27.AP/YONHAP
Choi went up against Sano next. The Japanese fencer scored the first four points of that showdown before Choi got the next five to put Korea up 20-12.
Seo then earned two quick points against Emura en route to a 5-3 win, with Korea now up 25-15.
Korea then overcame an apparent knee injury to Seo and cruised to the gold.
After Jeon took care of Kaneko 5-2, Seo was leading Sano 4-2 when she slipped and fell, apparently twisting her knee on the way down.
Substitute Kim Jeong-mi came on for Seo and got the one final point to close out that bout, with Korea now up 35-19.
Korean players celebrate after winning against Japan in the women's sabre team final match at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 in Nagoya, Japan, on Sept. 27.AP/YONHAP
The score was 40-25 after the Choi-Ozaki match. Jeon only needed five more points for the title; Ozaki had to get 20 more points — virtually an insurmountable deficit at that point. And Jeon finished off Japan with plenty of time to spare.
Choi said that she was far more pleased to have changed the medal from bronze to gold this time.
“I’m happier that I changed the color to gold,” she said. “I’m satisfied that I could help my teammates win gold at their first Asian Games.”
After failing to reach the semifinals in the women’s sabre individual event last week, Jeon, a former world No. 1, said that she tried not to think about the lost duels but to stay positive and enjoy the pressure.
The Korean women's fencing team, which won gold, poses during the medal ceremony for the women's sabre team event at the Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026 in Nagoya, Japan, on Sept. 27.AP/YONHAP
It was the first time that a Korean sabre fencer had failed to reach the podium in the individual event at the Asian Games.
“After the individual event, I lost not because of my incompetence but because of my mindset,” she said. “For the past two days, I tried to think positively, and that helped me enjoy the competition.”
Korea won bronze in the women’s sabre team event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
They are now eyeing the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, hoping to repeat the feat of changing their medal color to gold.
“I don’t think that we have a lot of time until the Los Angeles Olympics,” Jeon said. “I hope to prepare well, manage my injuries and win the team gold.”
