Korean fencing will be in the hunt for medals at the World Championships, which will be held less than two months before the Hangzhou Asian Games.
The 2023 Fencing World Championships will be held in Milan, Italy from February 22-30.
After finishing third overall (1 gold, 2 silver) at the World Championships for the first time in 2017, the Korean fencers will be aiming for a top-three finish this year.
Korea won three gold medals at last year’s event in Cairo, Egypt, to finish second overall behind France (4 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze).
The men’s sabre team, ranked No. 1 in the world, will attempt to win their fifth consecutive team title at the World Championships.
The Korean men’s sabre team won the team title at the World Championships in 2017, 2018, 2019, and last year. The World Championships were not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year, the 39-year-old eldest brother Kim Jong-hwan (Korea Sports Promotion Organization), who has been the mainstay of the men’s sabre team, was ruled out due to injury, leaving Oh Sang-wook (Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall), Koo Bon-gil (Korea Sports Promotion Organization), Kim Jun-ho (Hwaseong City Hall), and Ha Han-sol (Seongnam City Hall) on the roster.
Ha has already teamed up with Oh Sang-wook, Koo Bon-gil and Kim Jun-ho to win the team gold medal at the 2019 World Championships when Kim Jong-hwan temporarily hung up his flag, so Korea’s strength remains strong.
In addition, the men’s sabre players will be looking to regain the top spot in the individual competition.
Kim Jung-hwan won the title in 2018 and Oh Sang-wook in 2019, but last year, the first World Championships in three years, was won by Tokyo Olympics individual gold medalist Aaron Szilágyi (Hungary).
The women’s epee team, led by last year’s double winner Song Sera (Busan Metropolitan Government), will also be in the spotlight.
Song won the individual gold medal at last year’s World Championships and helped South Korea win its first ever women’s epee team title.
It was the first time a South Korean female fencer had ever won a double at a world championship.
Song won the individual gold medal at the Fujairah World Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in May and is currently ranked second in the individual world rankings.
In the team event, last year’s winning team of Song Se-ra, Choi In-jung (Gyeryong City Hall), Kang Young-mi (Gwangju Seo-gu Office), 카지노사이트킴 and Lee Hye-in (Gangwon Provincial Office) remain strong this year and are ranked No. 1 in the world.
The women’s sabre, which is ranked second in the world in the team event after several medal-winning performances at international competitions this season, is also a medal favorite.
The tournament will begin with individual qualifiers on Feb. 22-24, followed by the round of 64 and finals on Feb. 25-27, and the team competition on Feb. 28-30.