Song Se-ra (Busan Metropolitan City Hall), the "ace" of the women's épée fencing team, secured the South Korean fencing delegation's first gold medal at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Summer Asian Games.

Competing in the women's individual épée final held on the 22nd at Aichi Sky Expo in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, Song defeated Tissana Kiria (Singapore) 15-8 to claim the championship.

Ranked 3rd in the world for women's épée, Song won the individual titles at both the 2022 and this year's World Championships, but this marks her first gold medal in an international multi-sport competition.

With this victory, South Korea has maintained its reign in the Asian Games women's individual épée for three consecutive tournaments, following Kang Young-mi at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games and Choi In-jeong at the 2022 Hangzhou Games.

Having settled for a silver medal three years ago in Hangzhou after losing the final match against national team senior Choi In-jeong, Song finally grabbed her first individual gold medal in an international multi-sport event on her second attempt.

The final against Kiria, who is ranked 100th in the world, was not smooth sailing. Song conceded the first two points early on, but immediately counterattacked to take a 3-2 lead. Late in the second round, with the score at 8-7, she successfully executed a surprise attack against her opponent's blind spot to enter the third round leading 10-7.

Continuing to launch successive attacks targeting both the upper and lower body to pull ahead 13-7, Song ultimately completed her "golden thrust" at 15-8.

Song will also go on a hunt for a gold medal in the women's team épée event scheduled for the 25th.

In men's foil, Yoon Jung-hyun (Hwaseong City Hall) won a bronze medal, becoming the first South Korean male athlete to reach the podium in an Asian Games individual event in eight years.

World No. 32 Yoon lost 13-15 to Ryan Choi (Hong Kong) in the men's foil semifinals. The men's individual foil event awards joint bronze medals to the two semifinal losers.

In shooting, Ban Hyo-jin (Daegu Public Facilities Management Corporation) and Park Ha-jun (KT) captured a silver medal in the 10m air rifle mixed team event.

Competing at the Aichi Prefecture General Shooting Range, Ban and Park scored 252.6 and 250.3 points respectively, combining for a total of 502.9 points to win the silver medal behind China (507.1 points), which set a new world record.

Ban, the bronze medalist in the women's 10m air rifle individual event, harvested her second medal of the current competition. Park Ha-jun, who won a bronze medal in the men's 10m air rifle team event on the 21st, also collected a multi-medal and his 5th career Asian Games medal.

In swimming, Lee Ju-ho (Seogwipo City Hall), Choi Dong-yeol, Yang Jae-hoon, and Kim Young-beom (all from Gangwon Provincial Government) won a bronze medal in the men's 400m medley relay.

Competing at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan, they recorded 3 minutes and 31.97 seconds in the men's 400m medley relay final, finishing 3rd behind China (3 minutes 27.89 seconds) and Japan (3 minutes 28.70 seconds).

Having won silver in the men's 400m medley relay at the 2022 Hangzhou Games, South Korea has mounted the podium for two consecutive tournaments.

Meanwhile, the South Korean women's basketball national team defeated Taiwan 73-59 in their final Group C preliminary match at the Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan, securing 1st place in the group.

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