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| Women's sabre world No. 1 Ha Yong-young and men's sabre No. 1 Oh Sang-wook. (As of May 2025) Source=FIE |
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| Ha Young won the SK Telecom Grand Prix on the 4th, pushing Japan's proud fencing star, Misaki Emura, to second place to become the world's No. 1. Source =FIE |
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| Photo source=FIE |
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'Women's Sabre Youngest Ontop' Jeon Ha-young (24, Seoul City Hall) has finally become the world's No. 1 'Sabre Empress'.
Jeon Ha-young won the final of the Fencing Federation (FIE) SK Telecom Fencing Grand Prix held at SK Handball Stadium in Songpa-gu, Seoul on the 4th, beating Jungmi Kim (25, Ansan City Hall) by 15-13.
After writing the history of the first gold medal in the competition, where Seo Ji-yeon in 2016 and Kim Ji-yeon in 2019 had the best performance, she topped the world rankings announced by the International Fencing Federation (FIE) on the 6th (Korea time) by beating Emura, who has won two consecutive world championships 'Japanese fencing star'. SKT Grand Prix scored 48 winning points and scored 226 points. By failing to make it to the round of 16, she defeated Emura (206 points), who had only 12 points, to the second place.
Jeon Ha-young, born in 2001, played as an ace in the women's team event at the Paris Olympics last year and continued her stormy growth in the new season after winning silver medals with Yoon Ji-soo, Choi Se-bin, and Jeon Eun-hye. After lifting his first individual championship cup at the Orang World Cup in Algeria in November last year, he won one after another at the Orang Grand Prix in December, and lifted the SKT Grand Prix trophy for the first time by a Korean player with overwhelming and absolute skills, finally ranking first in the world.
He is a direct junior to Oh Sang-wook (29, Daejeon City Hall, No. 1 in the world) from Songchon High School in Daejeon. He won two individual and team competitions at the Cairo World Youth Championships in 2021 and received attention as a 'Women Oh Sang-wook' left-handed pencer' Jeon Ha-young began to write her own history. The Republic of Korea has become the world's No. 1 country in the men's and women's sabre rankings, with Ha Young becoming the world's No. 1 player alongside Oh Sang-wook.
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| Photo source=FIE |
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| Photo source=FIE |
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Jeon Ha-young's world No. 1 ranking is more meaningful in that it is the result of team play. In the round of 16 SKT Grand Prix, it was crucial that Jungmi Kim caught Emura 15-13. The match between the world's 97th and the world's No. 1 player, after 'Giant Killing' that no one expected, Jungmi Kim said "I thought I would win. I didn't care about the ranking. I was confident," he said with a smile. With Jungmi Kim's unexpected victory and Jeon Ha-young's victory, the ranking of the top rankers in Korea and Japan has changed. The runner-up of the Jungmi Kim "Unfinished Standby" is also a double celebration. The 'Japanese Killer' Jungmi Kim won its first medal on the international stage by defeating Joana Ilieva (Bulgaria), the world's third-ranked player in the semifinals, after lightly catching even Seri Ozaki in the quarterfinals. Every moment has become a new history, from the first ever SKT Grand Prix women's sabre to the final together, the first national anthem on home soil, and the world No. 1 ranking by Jeon Ha-young.
"I thought I would cry if I won the championship because I worked so hard preparing for the competition, but I was just happy when the national anthem was ringing," Ha-young said with a smile. "I didn't know I would be this good this year. When I was preparing for this season after the Paris Olympics, I only thought I wanted to do well in Orlé-Angry, but after winning Orlé-Angry, I won SKT Grand Prix. Now that I've achieved my goal, I'm going to try to win gold medals at the Asian and World Championships," he said emphatically. In the Bali Asian Fencing Championships in June and the Georgia Tbilisi World Fencing Championships in July, Ha Young will once again challenge the new history of the Korean women's sabre. The highest ranking in the women's sabre season is the third place in the world recorded by Kim Ji-yeon in the 2012-2013 and 2016-2017 seasons. Meanwhile, Jungmi Kim, who lifted his first runner-up trophy at an international competition, jumped from 97th in the world to 27th in the world.
Reporter Jeon Young-ji sky4us@sportschosun.com
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
