By Julian Linden, OCA Media
Nagoya, Japan, September 23, 2026: Korean swordsman Oh Sang-uk added another gold medal to his bulging collection when he won the men’s individual sabre at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games after a thrilling final bout.
Asia's premier fencer, Oh, 29, successfully defended the individual title he won at Hangzhou 2022 with a hard-fought 15-13 win over China’s Shen Chenpeng that brought out the best in both men.
Though he was an overwhelming favourite, it wasn’t easy for Oh. He injured his right foot early on in the bout and needed a medical timeout to get some pain relief.
Then he found himself two points away from a shock defeat, trailing 11-13, before he bounced back and won the next four points in a row to seal an emotional victory at the Aichi Sky Expo.
While he had to work harder than expected, Oh’s win confirmed his status in the sport and the strength of fencing in the region.
“First of all, I am very happy to have won the gold,” Oh said.
“I believe that Asia is becoming stronger every day, and I’m so happy to have won the gold medal despite my strong opponents.
“I had a lot of pressure to defend this. I am happy that I was able to overcome the pressure.”
Combining his individual and team victories, his growing stockpile of gold medals now includes four from the Asian Games, five from the world championships and three from the Olympics.
Five years younger than his Korean rival, Shen said he was overjoyed to win a medal.
“Personally, this silver medal is a great achievement and the result of my training. I want to be stronger in the future,” he said.
*Japan’s Yuka Ueno provided the host nation with its second gold medal in individual foil when she beat Korea’s Park Ji-hee 15-4 in the women’s final.
The silver medallist four years ago, Ueno went one better this time with a dominant display in front of her home supporters, 24 hours after Kyosuke Matsuyama had won the men’s individual foil.
“I’m just relieved to have come out on top. I really wanted to secure a victory here, so I’m relieved I was able to achieve that,” she said.
“I hadn’t expected such a wide margin of victory in the final, so it felt more like relief than pure joy.
“Now, I’m really driven to win a medal at the world level. I think this victory was a crucial step toward winning a medal at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in two years.”
An outsider at the start of the competition, Park said she was thrilled just to get on the podium after almost coming unstuck in the round before the medals were decided.
“I was not feeling well physically and in the quarterfinal I went 7-1 down. I remember thinking, ‘Is my first Asian Games going to end like this?'” she said.
“There was never a moment when I felt certain I would win a medal. I was nervous the whole time."
