'Asiad Two-Crown Champion' Oh Sang-uk Claims Second Straight Sabre Individual Title and Seventh Career National Sports Festival Victory

Oh Sang-uk (Daejeon City Hall), the leading figure in South Korean men's sabre fencing who swept both the individual and team events at last month's 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, has once again demonstrated his top-tier skills at the National Sports Festival.

Representing his hometown of Daejeon, Oh claimed the gold medal in the men's general division sabre individual event at the 107th National Sports Festival held at the Seogwipo Comprehensive Gymnasium on the 16th.

With this victory, Oh achieved his second consecutive individual title at the National Sports Festival following last year, marking his seventh career individual championship in the general division.

Starting from his very first match in the round of 16 that day, Oh clashed with Gu Bon-gil (Busan City Hall), a senior teammate from his national team days and the 2024 champion. After a tight early contest, Oh seized control from the middle phase to secure a 15-10 victory.

Moving on to the quarterfinals, Oh defeated Lee Han-seok (Chungnam Sports Council) 15-5. In the semifinals, he faced junior teammate Do Gyeong-dong (Daegu City Hall), with whom he had shared gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics and the recent Asian Games team event.

After falling behind 0-5 early and trailing for much of the match, Oh turned the tables by scoring three consecutive points from 11-13 down. He then clinched a narrow 15-14 victory by scoring the final point at 14-14 to advance to the final.

In the final against Ha Han-sol (Seongnam City Hall), Oh dominated up to 12-0 before completing a resounding 15-1 victory to seal the gold medal.

Hwang Hee-geun (Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps), who teamed up with Oh Sang-uk, Do Gyeong-dong, and Park Sang-won (Daejeon City Hall) to win this year's Asian Games men's sabre team event, was defeated 13-15 by Park In (Korea National Sport University) in the round of 16.

Jeon Ha-young (Seoul Metropolitan Government), who spearheaded the gold medal win in the women's sabre team event at the Asian Games, defeated Choi Ji-young (Iksan City Hall) 15-13 in the final to reclaim the National Sports Festival individual crown after two years.

Song Se-ra (Busan City Hall), the Asian Games women's épée individual gold medalist, was halted by Choi In-jeong (Gangwon Provincial Office) 8-15 in the semifinals, having to settle for a bronze medal.

Choi In-jeong, who defeated Song Se-ra to advance to the final, went on to overcome current national team member Lim Tae-hee (Gyeryong City Hall) to reach the top of the podium.

In the men's épée individual event, Jeong Byeong-chan (Iksan City Hall) emerged victorious, while in the men's and women's foil individual events, Kim Si-woo (Howon University) and Asian Games team silver medalist Park Ji-hee (Seoul Metropolitan Government) took the titles, respectively.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.