Oh Sang-wook (Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall), who won gold in the men’s sabre individual competition at the Asian Games after defeating the reigning champion Koo Bon-gil (Korea National Sports Promotion Organization), admitted that he was nervous in the final moments of the match as he remembered his “one-point defeat” five years ago.
“I remember losing in the final at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, so I was very nervous,” Oh said at a press conference after winning the men’s individual sabre event at the Hangzhou Asian Games 2022 at the Hangzhou University of Electronic Science and Technology Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China, on Friday. “I’m glad I was able to control my game in the second half.”
Oh Sang-wook, the silver medalist in the individual event at the Jakarta Games, defeated Goo Bon-gil 15-7 in the final to win his first individual gold medal at the Asian Games.
Oh, who also reached the final five years ago in his Asian Games debut, but had to settle for runner-up honors after failing to overcome the senior Koo’s dominance at the time, won the ‘final return match’ in style to end Koo’s bid for a fourth straight individual title.
“I didn’t focus on records like (Koo’s) four straight losses. “I was relaxed because it was a Korean final and we had secured 1-2,” he said, adding, “I just wanted to win in this situation and win the gold medal rather than thinking about the last Asian Games.
For Oh, the gold medal in the individual event was even more meaningful as he was rushing to rehabilitate after undergoing surgery for an ankle injury last November.
“I didn’t have much time to recover from my injury,” he said, “but my teammates told me, ‘You’re good, you can do it,’ so I was able to find my confidence,” he added.
“It was a good opportunity to measure my ‘combat power’ ahead of the Paris Olympics, which is less than a year away,” he said, adding, “I was very nervous, but I don’t have many opportunities to play in such an environment, so I am more honored to win the gold medal.” 스포츠토토
