New ‘Fencing Avengers’ to take charge of Paris Olympics… Who are the remaining 2 seats?
Gu Bon-gil and Oh Sang-wook hold on to the saber… Do Gyeong-dong, Ha Han-sol, and Park Sang-won compete.
Korea Fencing Association discusses full-scale selection at the Performance Maintenance Committee on the 7th.
The men’s saber team is a hit product in Korean fencing.
The word ‘Appengers’ even appeared. 바카라사이트
It is a combination of fencing and the popular hero movie The Avengers, and was used to refer to Kim Jeong-hwan, Koo Bon-gil (National Sports Promotion Foundation), Oh Sang-wook (Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall), and Kim Jun-ho (Hwaseong City Hall).
This nickname was given to the four athletes after they won the gold medal in the men’s fencing saber team event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but this expression can no longer be used.
Two veterans who won gold medals in the team event at last year’s Hangzhou Asian Games also gave up their ‘Appengers’ status.
Following Kim Jun-ho, who officially announced his retirement from the national team earlier this year, Kim Jung-hwan will not participate in the Paris Olympics.
Koo Bon-gil, who became the ‘eldest brother’ of the national team, and Oh Sang-wook, who is famous for fencing, are alive and well.
While the two players are holding on, Ha Han-sol (Seongnam City Hall), Do Gyeong-dong (Armed Forces Athletic Corps), and Park Sang-won (Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall) have been competing for the remaining two spots in the team competition this year.
The Korea Fencing Association plans to hold a performance improvement committee (Kyunghyang Committee) meeting on the 7th to discuss in earnest who to select as the players for the team competition, including Oh Sang-wook and Koo Bon-gil.
With the Kyunghyang Committee meeting one day away, only the coaching staff’s final decision remains.
National team coach Won Woo-young, who met with reporters during the 2024 SK Telecom Fencing Grand Prix held at the SK Handball Stadium in Olympic Park, Songpa-gu, Seoul on the 6th said, “I’m really thinking about it a lot.”
In the team event of the Men’s Saber World Cup held in Padua, Italy in early March, with star Oh Sang-wook missing due to injury, Koo Bon-gil, Ha Han-sol, Do Kyeong-dong, and Park Sang-won teamed up to win the gold medal.
Later that month, Oh Sang-wook returned and took second place at the Men’s Saber World Cup held in Budapest, Hungary, along with Koo Bon-gil, Park Sang-won, and Do Kyung-dong.
At this time, Ha Hansol was missing.
Unlike Koo Bon-gil and Oh Sang-wook, who have extensive experience in international competitions including the Olympics and Asian Games, Do Gyeong-dong (born in 1999) and Park Sang-won (born in 2000) are newcomers.
In this year’s Grand Prix men’s saber individual event held at home, all three failed to stand out.
Do Gyeong-dong and Ha Han-sol were eliminated in the round of 32, and Park Sang-won was eliminated in the round of 64.
Oh Sang-wook advanced to the quarterfinals, and Koo Bon-gil advanced to the round of 16.
Coach Won said, “Not everyone has completely recovered from their injuries.
They entered this competition with 70-80% physical condition.
We need to recover quickly and begin preparing for the Olympics in earnest.”
Koo Bon-gil also said, “As the eldest brother of this competition, I told the players that our goal is the Olympics, so they should play with less pressure.
They were young players, so they seemed inexperienced and nervous.
There are about two months left until the Olympics, so I will try to achieve good results. “he said.
Gu Bon-gil emphasized that the generational change in the Korean saber team is taking place in an ideal way.
He said, “We have to go to the Olympics to know (the results), but the best thing for us is that the generational change between veterans and newcomers did not occur at once like in other countries.
Two are medalists and two are rookies, so they can make up for each other’s shortcomings.”
“It can be done,” he pointed out.
He added, “It is a process that usually takes 4 to 8 years, but I think we have shortened it.”