South Korea reaffirmed its standing as one of the elite forces in international sabre over the weekend, with the men's sabre team taking gold at the FIE Fencing World Cup in Padova and the women's team adding silver in Athens to extend a season that has now produced medals in three of four Korean World Cup events.
The Korean Fencing Association confirmed the men's gold on Sunday at the World Cup team event in Padova, Italy. Oh Sang-uk, Park Sang-won, Im Jae-yoon (all from Daejeon City Hall) and Do Kyung-dong (Daegu City Hall) advanced from the round of 32 by defeating Chile, then progressed past China and Georgia to reach the semi-finals.
In the semi-final, Korea overcame Hungary 45-36 — a controlled team performance that featured strong middle-bout work from Park Sang-won. The final delivered the kind of dramatic close-out that has come to define Korea's sabre programme. Facing a team of Individual Neutral Athletes, the bout went to Oh Sang-uk in the closing exchanges, with the Korean delivering a comeback to seal a 45-44 victory and lock in Korea's second team gold of the season after Salt Lake City in January.
The Athens women's sabre event ran in parallel, with Jeon Ha-young (Seoul City Hall), Kim Jeong-mi, Seo Ji-yeon (both from Ansan City Hall) and Choi Se-bin (Daejeon City Hall) reaching the final. Korea defeated Hong Kong in the round of 16 and Italy in the quarter-finals before beating Japan 45-37 in the semis to advance.
The gold-medal contest against France was a tighter affair. Korea pushed throughout, but France held a slim margin in the final exchange to take the bout 45-42 and the gold. The 45-42 silver still continued Korea's run of consistent podium finishes — the women's squad has now medalled in three of four World Cup events on the season, a return that puts them among the most consistent women's sabre teams on the senior circuit.
For Oh Sang-uk, the Padova result extends a stretch that has cemented him as the most dependable closer in world men's sabre. The 28-year-old has been Korea's anchor across multiple Olympic cycles and produced his Padova win while balancing his preparation for the World Fencing League's debut event in Los Angeles, where he was due to compete the following weekend.
The broader Korean fencing programme — built around city-hall-affiliated training squads spread across Daejeon, Daegu, Seoul and Ansan — continues to be one of the most efficient pipelines in international fencing. The structure produces sabre fencers steeped in Korea's distinctive aggressive tachi-style approach, and the federation's selection process consistently delivers top-eight squads across both genders at successive World Championships and Olympics.
The results in Padova and Athens also feed into Korea's broader Olympic-cycle preparation. With qualification windows for the next major championship rotating into focus over the coming season, Korea now has a near-perfect run of team finishes from which to build, and a domestic pipeline showing no signs of slowing.
