Fencer Oh Sang-uk Claims Second Consecutive Men's Individual Sabre Gold

South Korean fencing star Oh Sang-uk (Daejeon City Hall) has delivered the South Korean delegation's 8th gold medal at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Oh claimed the top of the podium by defeating China's Shen Chenpeng 15-13 in the final of the men's individual sabre event held at the Aichi Sky Expo in Japan today (the 23rd).

With this victory, Oh has secured individual gold medals in two consecutive Asian Games, following the previous Hangzhou Games.

South Korean fencing continued its remarkable record of winning five consecutive individual men's sabre titles at the Asian Games, following Gu Bon-gil's three-peat.

The path to victory was dramatic.

Complaining of ankle pain during the first scoring sequence of the final, Oh engaged in a fierce battle against Shen Chenpeng throughout the match.

After trading leads to finish the first round ahead at 8-7, he faced a crisis at the start of the second round by conceding four consecutive points.

Trailing 11-13 after fighting back to tie it 11-11 with a chest touch and a swift counter-attack, Oh found himself behind again.

However, he demonstrated tremendous concentration in the latter stages of the match, scoring consecutive points with his signature long lunge attacks and rapid counters to pull off a dramatic 15-13 comeback victory.

World No. 2 Do Gyeong-dong (Daegu City Hall), who competed alongside Oh, suffered a narrow defeat to Kazakhstan's Sarksyan in the quarterfinals, preventing an all-Korean semifinal matchup.

Nevertheless, Oh subdued Sarksyan in the semifinals and went on to win the final, successfully defending his title.

Following Song Se-ra's gold medal in the women's epee yesterday and Oh Sang-uk's gold, along with Park Ji-hee's silver in the women's foil today, South Korean fencing has accumulated 2 golds, 1 silver, and 1 bronze early in the competition, cruising smoothly toward a fifth consecutive overall championship.

Oh Sang-uk will return to action in the team event on the coming 26th to challenge for his second consecutive double crown at the Games.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.