▲ South Korea's Song Se-ra celebrates after defeating Singapore's Tikhana Kiria in the final of the women's epee individual fencing event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on the 22nd.
South Korean fencing ace Song Se-ra has captured the country's 6th gold medal at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
Song claimed the championship today (the 22nd) by defeating Tikhana Kiria 15-8 in the final of the women's epee individual event at the Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
This marks South Korea's 6th gold medal of the current games, following previous victories in the women's modern pentathlon individual, men's modern pentathlon team, teqball men's singles, men's basketball, and men's 50m freestyle swimming.
Ranked 3rd in the world in women's epee and having won the individual titles at the World Championships in 2022 and this year, Song has now secured her first-ever gold medal in an individual event at a major international multi-sport competition.
South Korea has now maintained a three-event winning streak in the Asian Games women's epee individual event, following Kang Young-mi at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games and Choi In-jeong at the 2022 Hangzhou Games held in 2023.
Having settled for a silver medal three years ago in Hangzhou after losing the final match to her national team senior Choi In-jeong, Song grabbed her first individual gold at a major international multi-sport event on her second attempt.
The fencing women's epee individual event decided its medals through single-elimination matches starting from the Round of 32.
Song, who received a bye in the Round of 32 today, defeated Taniksha Khatri 15-9 in the Round of 16. She then edged out world No. 10 Tang Junyao 15-14 in a close quarterfinal match, breaking a 1-1 head-to-head record.
After roaring with excitement following her dramatic victory over Tang, Song faced a crisis in her semifinal bout against Tamaki Terayama.
Tied 7-7 entering the third round, she scored the first point with a precise lower-body attack to take the lead, but subsequently conceded two consecutive points to fall behind and chased the match thereafter.
Facing defeat at 11-13 in a tight deficit, Song dramatically forced overtime with just 7 seconds remaining when her attack targeting the opponent's upper body landed successfully at 13-14, and she scored the golden point to step onto the Asian Games final stage for the second consecutive time.
The final match against world No. 100 Kiria was not easy either.
After giving up the first two points early on, Song immediately retaliated to take a 3-2 lead, and entered the third round ahead 10-7 after landing a surprise counterattack at 8-7 in the latter half of the second round.
Against Kiria, who was taller and had a longer reach, Song freely unleashed attacks targeting both upper and lower bodies to pull ahead 13-7, finally completing her golden thrust.
Fencing individual events at this Asian Games allow up to two participants per country.
Lim Tae-hee, who competed in the women's epee individual alongside Song today, was eliminated in the Round of 16 after losing 13-15 to Vladislava Andreyeva.
Led by Song Se-ra and Lim Tae-hee, the South Korean women's epee national team will aim for another gold medal in the team event on the 25th.
South Korean fencing made a refreshing start toward its 5th consecutive overall Asian Games victory on the opening day of the competition, powered by Song's gold and men's foil individual bronze by Yoon Jung-hyun.
Yoon became the first South Korean male fencer to medal in the Asian Games men's foil individual event in 8 years, following Son Young-ki at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games.
In the men's foil individual event, Kazuki Iimura took the title, while Ryan Choi, who defeated Yoon in the semifinals, claimed the silver medal.
Tomorrow features the men's sabre and women's foil individual events.
Oh Sang-uk will compete to defend his title in the men's sabre.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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