Olympic fencing champions eyeing Grand Prix medals at home this week
The reigning double Olympic gold medalist Oh Sang-uk will headline the South Korean team as Seoul hosts its annual International Fencing Federation (FIE) Grand Prix in sabre this week.
SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Seoul will be the venue for the three-day competition starting Friday. Each Grand Prix event awards the third-most world ranking points, behind only the Olympics and world championships. South Korea has been staging the Grand Prix in sabre each year since 2015.
This year's event will feature some 340 athletes from 41 nations.
South Korea swept the men's individual and team sabre gold medals at the Paris Olympics last year, while also grabbing silver in the women's team event. Oh held off Fares Ferjani of Tunisia for the individual gold and helped South Korea to its third consecutive men's team gold medal.
Oh is No. 1 in the FIE world rankings this season and will be the crowd favorite at this week's Grand Prix, too, even though he is not on the national team this season after taking some time off post-Olympics.
"Since the Olympics, I've been trying to find a new source of motivation in me," Oh said at the pre-competition media conference Wednesday in Seoul. "Though I am not on the national team now, I am here to represent the country well."
Gu Bon-gil, who has competed on all three Olympic gold medal-winning teams in 2012, 2021 and 2024, said it was about time he finally won a Grand Prix medal on home soil.
"I've never reached a Grand Prix podium here, and I'd love to win one," the 36-year-old said. "But at the same time, I will try to help my younger teammates do well."
Two other members of the 2024 Olympic squad, Park Sang-won and Do Gyeong-dong, will also be competing at the Grand Prix. They were thrown into the Olympic fire after a couple of veterans retired and made crucial contributions in South Korea's run to the top of the Paris podium.
Park is now a career-high No. 5 in the world.
"I've been working hard for this event, and I want to live up to my ranking position," Park said. "I want to stand on the podium when it's all said and done."
Ferjani said Seoul is one of his favorite Grand Prix stops because "everything is very beautiful" in the South Korean capital city, and he was looking forward to renewing his rivalry with Oh on the latter's home soil.
"When I fence with Oh, it's a beautiful game because he's very athletic," the world No. 3 said. "I need to find a very intelligent way to fence and win on small details. In Paris, he was better in everything, so he had the gold medal. I am happy that the game is always very nice with Oh."
In the women's event, Jeon Ha-young has taken a similar developmental path as Park -- from an unknown before the Olympics to a medalist and now No. 2 in the world rankings.
I've taken a big step forward both mentally and technically," Jeon said. "I think this kind of confidence has been a huge positive for me at Grand Prix and World Cup events. My goal here is to reach the podium." (Yonhap)
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