Oh Sang-uk claims second gold of the Games

South Korean fencers pose with the national flag after winning the men's sabre team final against Japan at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on Saturday. [Yonhap]
South Korean fencers pose with the national flag after winning the men's sabre team final against Japan at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, on Saturday. [Yonhap]

South Korea's men's sabre fencing team claimed its fourth consecutive Asian Games team gold on Saturday, with Oh Sang-uk securing his second gold medal of the tournament.

Oh, Park Sang-won, Do Gyeong-dong and Hwang Hui-geun defeated Japan 45-44 in the men's sabre team final at Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, delivering South Korea's 15th gold medal of the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

The victory extended South Korea's dominance in the event, following gold medals at the 2014 Incheon, 2018 Jakarta-Palembang and 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.

Oh has now won five career Asian Games gold medals, moving within one of the all-time Korean record of six held by sabre sunbae Ku Bon-gil.

In the final, Park opened proceedings by defeating Japan's star Kokubo Mao 5-3 to seize the early advantage. Oh then stretched the lead to 10-6 against Japanese veteran Yoshida Kento, and Do extended it further to 15-8 after the third round against Tsubo Hayato. Park struggled against Yoshida's experienced play in the fourth round but closed it out at 20-16.

Do held off Kokubo's charge in the fifth round to maintain a 25-21 lead, and Oh kept Japan at bay in the sixth despite pressure from Tsubo, pushing the score to 30-26 and seemingly putting South Korea on course for a fourth straight title.

The seventh round, however, brought a dramatic reversal. Do conceded six consecutive points to Yoshida, surrendering the lead at 30-32, and ultimately fell behind 32-35. Park engineered a comeback in the eighth round, reeling off five straight points against Tsubo to overturn a 34-38 deficit — only to give up a point at 39-39 and fall behind once more.

Trailing by one point heading into the ninth and final round, Oh fell as far back as 41-44 against Kokubo before scoring four consecutive points to complete the comeback and seal the gold.

On the second day of team events, South Korea's fencing squad added a gold in men's sabre and a silver in women's foil, bringing their overall tally to three gold, three silver and two bronze medals. The final day of fencing competition on Sunday will feature the men's épée and women's sabre team events.


yeongdai@heraldcorp.com