(Tokoname [Japan] = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Song-a = Oh Sang-wook (Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall), the leading star of Korean fencing, overcame injuries and won his second consecutive individual title at the Asian Games, paving the way for the Los Angeles (LA) Olympics two years later.
Sangwook Oh won the men's saber individual final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, Japan on the 23rd, defeating Shen Tianfeng (China) 15-13, and won the gold medal for the second time in a row following the 2022 Hangzhou Games held in 2023.
Oh Sang-wook, who swept the individual and team events at the 2024 Paris Olympics and became the first Korean fencing player to win two Olympic gold medals, successfully defended his individual title at the Asian Games and repeatedly proved his 'world class' skills.
Oh Sang-wook is the second player to win the men's saber individual event at the Asian Games more than two times in a row, following Koo Bon-gil, who won three consecutive titles in Guangzhou in 2010, Incheon in 2014, and Jakarta and Palembang in 2018.
Oh Sang-wook, who lost the final match against national team senior Koo Bon-gil in Jakarta and had to be satisfied with second place, won a return match with Koo Bon-gil in Hangzhou and finally took the top spot in Asia, and this time, he defended his throne.
This tournament was a test for Oh Sang-wook, who has already established himself as the world's best saber fencer by winning gold medals at the Hangzhou and Paris Olympics.
After putting down the Taegeuk mark for a season to recharge after the Paris Olympics, he returned to the national team for the 2025-2026 season that started last fall, but suffered from a herniated lumbar disc throughout this season while preparing for the Asian Games.
If he chose to have surgery, he would not be able to participate in the Asian Games, so Oh Sang-wook received treatment and continued preparing for the competition.
Oh Sang-wook, who is 192cm tall, often uses lunge attacks where he extends one leg long and lunges. Your back strength must be supported, so if your back is not good, it will inevitably affect your performance.
Despite this, Oh Sang-wook won the individual event at the International Fencing Federation (FIE) World Cup twice in January (Salt Lake City, USA) and May (Cairo, Egypt) this year, and showed his ability to regain the top spot in the individual event for the first time in two years at the Asian Championships in June.
At the World Championships in July, he led the way to a silver medal in the team event, but was eliminated in the round of 32 in the individual event and had to feel the aftermath of an injury.
Afterwards, Oh Sang-wook, who focused on rest and recovery for about a month to improve his back condition, came to the final battle with determination, saying, "I will approach with courage and spirit as a challenger rather than with the mindset of protecting."
Oh Sang-wook, who has a reputation for not having major emotional ups and downs and strong mental strength, forgot the pain and regained his cool on another big stage, imprinting his 'number one' image once again.
On this day, in the final match against Shen Tianfeng, there was a factor in which he was shocked when his feet overlapped in the first scoring situation, but even this did not stop Oh Sang-wook.
Oh Sang-wook, who turns 30 on the 30th, confirms his health with this win and is expected to continue his position as the world's best saber until the 2028 LA Olympics. It would be the icing on the cake if he and his teammates achieved their fourth consecutive team win in the team event on the 26th.
