The Republic of Korea gained the men’s team sabre ultimate on the Olympic Games Paris 2024 after particular person Olympic champion Oh Sanguk held off a valiant however inadequate late-match comeback from Hungary’s Aron Szilagyi on the Grand Palais on Wednesday 31 July.
The match lived up to its billing as a conflict of fencing titans, entertaining an enthusiastic crowd all through 9 durations of intense, world-class sabre dueling.
Reflecting on his team’s victory, Oh Sanguk mentioned: “I was so impressed that we won gold. I was so happy that I had tears in my eyes. I was so overwhelmed by the emotions.”
The Republic of Korea led a lot of the match because of a sturdy begin from Park Sangwon, who defeated Aron Szilagyi 5-4 in the primary period. Oh Sanguk then grew their lead by an extra contact, after dismissing Krisztian Rabb 4-5 in the second period.
However, it was Gu Bongil that actually cemented the Republic of Korea’s early lead.
Demonstrating his superior method and lightning quick reflexes, he notched an additional two touches over Andras Szatmari in the third period.
The rating would stay primarily stage for the subsequent two durations, till Szatmari displayed some brilliance of his own, dissecting Oh Sanguk’s defenses to deliver the Hungarian team inside one contact of their gold medal adversaries.
Unfortunately, all of his laborious work can be undone when Krisztian Rabb took a 5-0 loss to Do Gyeongdong in the seventh period.
Try as they may, the Hungarians may by no means get better from the deficit and needed to accept the silver medal by the top of the match.
“I’m very happy but of course a little disappointed, because we felt like we had a chance to win the final,” mentioned Aron Szilagyi. “We were close but in the last three matches the Korean team made it clear that they are the best in the world. Congratulations to them and their coaches. They did an amazing job.”
France joined the Republic of Korea and Hungary on the rostrum, after defeating the Islamic Republic of Iran 45-25 in the bronze medal match.
It was a dominant exhibiting from the host team of Bolade Apithy, Sebastien Patrice, Maxime Pianfetti and Jean-Philippe Patrice, who had the gang singing ‘La Marseillaise’ and cheering each contact prefer it was the final one required for the bronze.
“You can’t finish any better than that, it’s a dream from start to finish,” mentioned Bolade Apithy, who gained his first Olympic medal 12 years after making his debut at London 2012.
He plans to retire after Paris 2024, however he’ll need to return down from cloud 9 first.