Fencer Park Ji-hee (24, Seoul City Hall), who had never stood on the podium in an individual international competition, has set the stage to become a new leading figure after clinching a silver medal at her first-ever Asian Games.

On the second day of fencing at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on the 23rd, attention was drawn to Oh Sang-uk (Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall) as he pursued his second consecutive title in the men's sabre individual event.

With even more focus centered on Do Kyung-dong (Daegu Metropolitan City Hall), currently ranked second in the world in men's sabre and considered a favorite for the title, Oh successfully defended his crown. Meanwhile, a finalist also emerged in the women's foil individual event, which had received relatively less attention.

Park Ji-hee was ranked 23rd in the world and had previously not won a single individual medal on the international stage.

Although she was once a promising prospect—winning a silver medal in the individual event at the 2009 Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships (Note: translating text directly without adding context) — she had not made any significant mark as a senior national team member.

Following the 2000s and 2010s when figures like Nam Hyun-hee and Jeon Hee-sook dominated the global stage, the presence of women's foil generally faded. Expectations for this year's individual competition were merely around a bronze medal, similar to the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games (Hong Se-na), but Park defied expectations to reach the final.

In the final against Yuka Ueno of Japan, who holds the highest ranking in Asia at world No. 3, Park fell behind 0-12 before losing 4-15. However, she did not hang her head and instead showed a silver smile.

Park said, "I came here thinking that I must win a medal, and I am truly, really happy to have even won a silver medal. This is my first individual achievement."

Currently coached at her club team by Jeon Hee-sook, the women's foil individual gold medalist at the 2014 Incheon and 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, she added, "I am even happier that I could be the player to follow in our coach's footsteps and reach the final."

Although she could only smile after everything was over, Park confessed that she felt nervous and anxious throughout the matches.

She evaluated her performance by saying, "My body felt heavy from the preliminaries, so I didn't advance with a great record. I think I was nervous because the Asian Games receive more attention domestically than other competitions, but good performances came out in the tournament, so I lucked out and got a silver medal."

She added, "There is an artificial intelligence (AI) performance analysis system (SKT-FAN) introduced by our association's title sponsor SK Telecom ahead of the competition, and receiving help from it before coming here was a factor in my results."

Reflecting on the final against Ueno, Park noted, "Even though her world ranking is much higher than mine, I wanted to make it a fight point by point, but I think that was the wrong mindset, which is a bit regrettable." She emphasized, "Many people were cheering for me, and I felt that giving up just because it was 0-12 at such a competition wasn't right, so I tried harder with the mindset of 'It's not going to be 0-15.'"

Three years ago in Hangzhou, South Korean foil suffered setbacks with only a single bronze medal across the men's and women's individual events. This time, however, Park's silver and Yoon Jung-hyun's (Hwaseong City Hall) bronze in the men's individual event have laid the groundwork for restoring their honor.

Park is aiming for an even higher position in the team event on the 26th.

Expressing her determination, she said, "South Korea is a real powerhouse in men's sabre and women's épée. I will work harder so that women's foil can also become a powerhouse and make the national anthem play. All of our team members are determined to take first place. Foil was where we won our first-ever Olympic gold medal (Kim Young-ho in the 2000 Sydney men's individual event), and I hope this competition serves as an opportunity for foil to do even better."

(Photo: Yonhap News)