Fencing Champion Oh Sang-uk Says He Takes Every Bout with Hunger

Oh Sang-uk says he approaches the upcoming Asian Games not as a defending champion protecting a crown, but as a challenger starting over. The South Korean sabre star has already won every major title in his sport, yet he says pressure must not disturb his rhythm.

Oh became the first South Korean fencer to complete the sport’s Grand Slam: Olympic, world, Asian Games and Asian Championships victories. At the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, he won an individual silver and team gold. At the 2022 Hangzhou Games, held in 2023, he took gold in both events. In Aichi-Nagoya, he will seek a second straight individual and team double.

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Fencing is a sport in which mental strength greatly influences the result.

The team around him has changed. Senior fencers including Gu Bon-gil have retired, leaving Oh, once the youngest member, as the oldest and most experienced figure. He says the tournament will require South Korea to defend its reputation as the world’s strongest fencing nation while building chemistry with new teammates. The Asian Games will award 12 fencing gold medals across the individual and team events in men’s and women’s sabre, épée and foil.

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Never become impatient.

Oh has also postponed surgery for a herniated lumbar disc that caused pain from November last year. Surgery would have prevented him from competing, so he prepared through rehabilitation and careful condition management. He says the injury has improved considerably, but still identifies it as the hardest part of his preparation.

His approach remains deliberately restrained. He says fencing is a sport in which mental strength heavily affects results, and he has followed one rule since beginning: “Never become impatient.” Losing his rhythm, he says, follows quickly when urgency takes over.

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This is a stage where we must defend the title of ‘the world’s strongest’ that Korean fencing has achieved.

Oh says he wants to become a proper model of fencing, not merely its best performer. That means showing younger athletes how to train, overcome adversity and conduct themselves away from the piste. After winning two golds at the 2024 Paris Olympics, he took a season away from the national team to care for himself and the people around him. Since returning for the 2025-26 season, he has won the Asian Championships again and collected medals despite once having to borrow equipment after being unable to retrieve his own. Now, he says, he will step onto the piste carrying the hunger he felt when he first picked up a sword.

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I want to become a proper model of fencing.