Defeating strong players from across the country one after another… Women’s fencing saber team silver medal｜Dong-A Ilbo

The South Korean women’s sabre team defeated a tenacious Ukrainian team to win the silver medal in the Olympic final for the first time.

The Korean women’s sabre team (Jeon Ha-young, Choi Se-bin, Yoon Ji-soo, Jeon Eun-hye), ranked 4th in the world by the International Fencing Federation (FIE), lost to Ukraine 42-45 and ranked 3rd in the world in the team final held at the Grand Palais in Paris on the 3rd.

On this day, the Korean team completed the 2nd to 8th rounds, and except for the first round where Ukrainian ace Ulha Karan (world No. 3) led 5-3, the Ukrainian team did not lead in a single round. The last 9 rounds were also played with a 3-point lead (40-37).

However, Jeon Ha-young, who had been chasing and scoring in this match and ended up at the bottom, let Karan (No. 3) come back at 42-43, and then lost the ball in succession, giving up a match point (42-44). Karan, who was warmly supported by the French fans at home, scored the last ball in a row and roared on the ski slope.

However, the women’s saber achieved the best result ever in the first Olympic finals held in France, the hometown of fencing. Yoon Ji-soo (31, 17), the youngest bronze medalist at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, fulfilled her wish of “I want to change the color of the medal” with her younger brother in the second stage. The siblings are the eldest in Paris and are participating in the Olympics for the first time.

The hope of completing the first “men’s and women’s gold medals” in the history of the sabre event with the Korean men’s sabre team, which won three consecutive Olympic championships, was postponed to the next opportunity, but the Korean sabre team still managed to maintain the record of “men’s and women’s medals” for two consecutive competitions.

Like the men’s sabre team in this tournament, the women’s sabre team also defeated the home team France, which was enthusiastically supported by the home fans, in the semi-finals. However, unlike the men’s sabre, which has maintained the world’s No. 1 ranking for eight consecutive years since the 2016-2017 season and the Olympic “defending champion” has clearly “risen”, the women’s sabre ranks fourth. The world’s No. 1 French team is the “underdog”.

The highest ranked Korean women’s saber players in the world are Jeon Ha-young (8th), Choi Se-bin (10th) and Jeon Eun-hye (37th). However, the Korean team has high-ranked players such as Manon Appi-Brunette (2nd) and Sarah Barzecchi (1st), who shared the individual gold and silver medals in this tournament, as well as Cecilia Videl (9th) and Sarah Nucha (14th). They defeated France 45-36.

Jeon Eun-hye, who was unable to participate in the individual event, replaced her sister Yoon Ji-soo in the semifinals, and all team members shared a medal, similar to the men’s saber. Do Kyung-dong (25), who is also a candidate for the men’s saber, participated in the finals instead of his brother Gu Bon-gil and fully enjoyed the joy of winning a medal.

Paris = Reporter Lim Bo-mi bom@donga.com