“New Avengers Silenced 9,000 Buddhists”
South Korea’s K-Fencing cruised to a dream third consecutive Olympic title after defeating France at the Grand Palais in the heart of France.
Korea advanced to the final of the men’s sabre team event at the Paris Olympics with a 45-39 victory over home team France (ranked No. 4 in the world) in the quarterfinals at the Grand Palais in Paris, France, at 10:50 p.m. (KST) on Aug. 31.
The home team and reigning world champions will face the ‘best in the world’ South Korea, who defeated Egypt in the quarterfinals in a thrilling one-sided affair. South Korea got off to a good start on their quest for a first-ever three-peat with an easy 45-33 win over Canada in the quarterfinals.
The New Avengers, the world’s No. 1 men’s sabre team, comprised of Koo Bon-gil (35-Korea Sports Promotion Organization-World No. 22), Oh Sang-wook (28-World No. 1), Park Sang-won (24-Sangsang Daejeon Metropolitan Government-World No. 23) and Do Kyung-dong (25-Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps-World No. 75), had to face 9,000 home fans in the Grand Palais in the quarterfinals against France. Leading the way was Park Sang-won, who led the charge in the quarterfinals against Canada. 1Bout Park Sang-won, the top-ranked player in France, was down 2-5 to Sébastien Patrice (World No. 6), who led his country to the quarterfinals with a win over Egypt. However, he was backed by senior Oh Sang-wook.
Two-time Olympic individual champion Oh Sang-wook. He faced Maxime Pienfetti (World No. 15). Oh was no match for him. After tying the game at 7-7, he took it back to 8-7 with a block and a slash, and then 9-7. He closed out the match 10-7.
3-butt ‘eldest brother’ Koo Bon-gil faced Bolad Afiti (World No. 8) and roared to life with five points down. Korea took a 15-7 lead. The score grew to 19-7 and then 12-7 when Park Sang-won, who had reorganized his lineup for the four-butt brothers’ battle, scored four points against Maxime Pienfeti. He closed it out at 20-9.
5Bout Koo Bon-gil faced Sebastien Patrice. He dropped two points to cut the deficit to 20-11. Koo lit up and Patrice appealed for a video review, but Koo’s point was upheld. With the momentum in her favor, Gubon-Gil completed another lunge, block and poke to extend the lead to 23-12. At 25-14, the baton was handed over to six-butt Oh Sang-wook.
Oh overwhelmed Apiti to double the lead at 28-14, and 토토사이트 추천 closed it out at 30-14, a 16-point lead.
The decibel level of the “Allez France!” chants from the French crowd subsided a bit.
Facing a 7-butt Goubongil, Maxime Pienfeti scored four unanswered points to start the comeback. It was 18-30, but Gubongil’s blocks and pokes kept coming. With a 15-point lead, 35-20, he handed the baton to the youngest player, Park Sang-won.
The match was going well until an eight-butt crunch. Bollard Afiti made a last-ditch effort against Park Sang-won to extend the lead to nine points. Park completed his final mission and handed the baton to the ‘Sabre King’ Oh Sang-wook at 40-30.
After a 9-butt battle between Oh “The Final Weapon” Sang-wook and Sébastien Patrice, Patrice scored three aces to cut the deficit to 40-33. The “Alle France” chants heated up again. Partis went on a 6-1 run to pull within five points, 41-36. The stomping of the French crowd shook the stadium as they regained momentum. The New Avengers didn’t lose their focus in the face of the one-sided cheers. As Oh sealed the 45-39 victory, London’s first gold medalist Won Woo-young and his men’s sabre teammates roared onto the piste.
It was the perfect combination of Park Sang-won (2000), Oh Sang-wook (1996), and Koo Bon-gil (1989), the perfect win that silenced the French fans, and the perfect run to the final. “I’m a little worried about the French home crowd, but we trained well in Jincheon for that kind of noise, so it doesn’t matter who comes up. It’s the Olympics, so the referees are on point, and we’re not shaken by the crowd or the outside environment. We just need to show what we have practiced and we will do well enough,” he said with the confidence of a world champion. And with good reason. .
At the Jincheon Athletes’ Village, the team completed a variety of crisis drills to prepare for the event, including microphones being blasted into speakers to generate and endure intense noise and simulated unfavorable calls to shake them up. Unfazed by the “sabotage” of 9,000 spectators in France, the New Avengers reached their third consecutive Olympic team final. They are now just one win away from their third consecutive gold medal and a place in world fencing history.
South Korea will face Hungary, who beat Iran, in the men’s sabre final at 3:30 a.m. to decide the fate of their third straight Olympic team title. .