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| Choo Ha-young, who wrote the history of winning the SKT Grand Prix for the first time. |
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"It was really hard preparing for this competition. I was so stressed that I even cried in my room, but I think I can sleep well now."
Only then did Cho Ha-young (24, Seoul Metropolitan Government), the Korean women's sabre top ranker, smile after lifting her first ever championship trophy at the SK Telecom Fencing Grand Prix.
In the final of the Fencing Federation (FIE) SK Telecom Fencing Grand Prix held at SK Handball Stadium in Songpa-gu, Seoul on the 4th, Jeon Ha-young beat Jungmi Kim (25, Ansan City Hall, 97th in the world) by 15-13.
In SKT Grand Prix, where the sport has changed from foil to sabre since 2015, Kim Jung-hwan in 2017, Oh Sang-wook won gold medals in 2019, and 2023, but the women's sabre did not have gold medals. The silver medals of Seo Ji-yeon in 2016 and Kim Ji-yeon in 2019 were the best. Jeon Ha-young won her first gold medal ever. It was the first time that two Korean players went to the podium together and advanced to the finals side by side. Jeon Ha-young and Jungmi Kim wrote the history of going to the finals together for the first time in history. The South Korean women's sabre team, led by coach Lee Kuk-hyun, made a great new history on a spring day at the home piste.
Jeon Ha-young, who met after winning the championship, finally opened her heart. Jeon Ha-young is a direct junior of Oh Sang-wook (29, Daejeon City Hall, world No. 5) from Songchon High School in Daejeon, and immediately after the Paris Olympics, he won the individual cup at the Orlé-en-Grand Prix and the Algeria World Cup. The burden of the world's second-largest home competition and top ranker was not easy. In addition, he confessed that from the round of 64 to the match against veteran senior Seo Ji-yeon, who is the runner-up in 2016, and the cruel match against each other from the beginning, he wiped away tears. "Anyway, I'm so happy that I finished it well."
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| Winner-up Jeon Ha-young (right) runner-up Jungmi Kim. At SKT Grand Prix, the 2000s generation penners wrote a new history of the women's sabre. |
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As soon as senior Jungmi Kim beat Misaki Emura in the round of 16, Jeon Ha-young said, `As soon as my sister saw the match against Emura, I thought I would meet Jeong-mi no matter what if I went to the finals.' The viewers watched the final comfortably, but the psychological burden between the seniors and juniors, who met numerous times in domestic competitions and knew each other well together in the national team, could have been more than foreign players or Korea-Japan matches.
As it is a match between the two teams, I have to compete with my own fencing without the coach's instructions in the second round. Jeon Ha-young said, `I also wanted to achieve my first history because I knew that it would be my first time to win the gold medal in this competition, and I rely a lot on coach instructions, but both of them played without a coach, so I controlled my mind a lot to overcome the burden."I looked back. "Jungmi was in such good shape today. I didn't know what to do in the beginning. My body was so tired and I thought a lot about whether I should just give up or run while holding tight," he said with a smile.
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| Changing with Seoul City Hall and Yoon Ji-soo, a senior member of the national team, after winning. |
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| Kim Taek-soo, head of Jincheon National Training Center, is shouting fighting with Ha Yong-young and Jungmi Kim, who went to the finals together at the SKT Grand Prix site. |
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| Ha Young took a commemorative photo with her father and mother, who were waiting for her in vain after winning the SKT Grand Prix for the first time in history. |
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Behind the first ever championship cup was support and advice from outstanding seniors Kim Ji-yeon (London Olympics gold), Yoon Ji-soo (Paris Olympics gold), and actor and caster Lee Dong-jin, Kim Ji-yeon's husband. "When I felt it was difficult while playing the game, I looked at Ji-yeon and Ji-Soo. They are really good sisters that I trust and rely on. It's because of the older sisters that I've grown up like this. The older sisters' voices were loud, so they cheered me up very well throughout the game, which really cheered me up." "Especially, Dong-jin's voice is very good because he is an actor, but I was really encouraged by the sound of Dong-jin's 'Hayoung fighting' among many people." with a big smile.
He did not forget how he felt when he played the first Korean national anthem in his home room. "It's a shame that the men's sabre couldn't win a medal together today, but we're so happy to make the national anthem cry like this," Ha-young said. "I thought I would cry if I won because I prepared so hard for the competition, but I was just happy to hear the national anthem. I didn't cry," he said with a smile.
His performance in this year's event was overwhelming. The fencers said in unison, `My physical strength and skill have improved.' Like Oh Sang-wook, who started with the nickname 'Woman Oh Sang-wook', Ha Young can dream of winning the World Championship after the junior champion. The next goal was asked to Ha Young-young, who is expected to look at 'world No. 1' by winning the home Grand Prix. "I didn't know that I would be this good this year, and when I was preparing for this season after the Paris Olympics, I just thought I wanted to do well in Orlé-en-Grand Prix, but I won the SKT Grand Prix after winning the Orlé-en-Grand Prix. Now that we have achieved our goal, our goal is to try to win gold medals at the Asian and World Championships." Responded bravely to the request to tell what kind of player Ha-young is. "I'm a winning player!"
Reporter Jeon Young-ji sky4us@sportschosun.com
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
