Concluding its fencing campaign at the 19th Asian Games on Friday, South Korea raked in six gold medals out of 12 up for grabs in the sport to solidify its fame as the unparalleled fencing powerhouse on the continent.
South Korean fencers, who had continued their upbeat momentum from the Tokyo Olympics, have dug up at least one gold medal in each of the first five days of fencing competitions from Sunday.
Seasoned fencer Choi In-jeong started the golden streak on the first day, winning the women's individual epee in the first all-Korean final with Song Se-ra.
She was followed by Oh Sang-uk, who triumphed over his teammate Gu Bon-gil in the second in-team duel in the men's individual sabre Monday to bag his first Asian Games gold.
Yoon Ji-su took the third medal of the top color in the women's individual sabre next day, beating Shao Yaqi of China.
Wednesday was a golden day for South Korea, sweeping up the two gold medals at stake for the day after winning the men's team foil and women's team foil. Male foil fencers -- Heo Jun, Ha Tae-gyu, Lee Kwang-hyun and Im Cheol-woo -- shook off individual disappointments to claim the team title, while epee fencer Choi became the first double gold medalist in the Korean fencing team.
On Thursday, the men's sabre team -- Oh, Gu, Kim Jun-ho and Kim Jung-hwan -- defended its title again, winning a third consecutive gold at the Asian Games, and gave the second gold to ace fencer Oh and the sixth career gold medal to veteran fencer Gu.
Gu's six gold medals helped the 34-year-old fencer match Korea's five other sports athletes with the most Asian Games medals, including swimmer Park Tae-hwan and fencer Nam Hyun-hee.
Along with six golds, South Korea had three runner-up and third-place finishes each, raising the overall medal tally in fencing to 12.
With Song and Gu's individual silver medals, the women's foil team of Hong Seo-in, Hong Hyo-jin, Hong Se-na and Chae Song-ho lost to the Chinese in the gold-medal match.
Hong Se-na lost in the semifinals in the women's individual foil, while the women's sabre team and the men's epee team finished third.
Source: Yonhap News Agency