S. Korea captures gold in women's sabre fencing team event

South Korea secured the gold in the women's sabre fencing team event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Sunday, marking the nation's fourth fencing title of the competition. The South Korean team, consisting of Choi Se-bin, Jeon Ha-young, Seo Ji-yeon, and Kim Jeong-mi, defeated Japan's Misaki Emura, Yui Sano, Yuina Kaneko, and Seri Ozaki with a score of 45-31 at the Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, located south of Nagoya.

It's worth noting that none of the individual South Korean fencers had won a medal in the competition prior to this victory. Choi Se-bin had previously been part of the 2023 Asian Games team that took home the bronze medal, narrowly losing out to Japan. South Korea concluded the fencing competition with a total of four gold medals, four silver medals, and two bronze medals.

In team fencing events, competitors face off in nine head-to-head bouts. Each bout lasts for three minutes, but it concludes when one team reaches a score that is a multiple of five. The team that reaches 45 points first or has more points than the opponent at the end of the ninth bout is declared the winner. Choi Se-bin started the match with a decisive victory over Emura, 5-2, followed by a 5-4 win for Jeon Ha-young against Sano.

Seo Ji-yeon also managed to overcome early resistance from Kaneko and Yuina Kaneko to contribute to the team's triumph.