🇰🇷 SOUTHERN SURGE: KOREA EDGES NEUTRAL ATHLETES IN THRILLING PADUA FINALE
Updated: Aug 5
PADUA, ITALY — 19 APRIL 2026
World number 5 Korea captured their second team title of the 2025–26 campaign, fighting through a high-stakes championship match at the rescheduled Padua Men’s Sabre World Cup. The clinical Korean unit—featuring individual bronze medallist Do Gyeongdong, Lim Jaeyoon, Paris 2024 Olympic Champion Oh Sanguk and Park Sangwon—withstood a ferocious final push from the Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN) squad to secure a 45–44 cliffhanger.
The gold medal matches Korea's victory from the Salt Lake City World Cup earlier this season.
The AIN lineup took home a well-deserved silver medal to log their first team podium of the year, whilst top seeds Hungary secured bronze. Romania completed a brilliant tournament in fourth place.
Path to the Podium
Korea (World number 5) cruised through their opening matches against Chile and China before encountering a tough defensive barrier against Georgia in the quarter-finals, advancing 45–37. In the semi-finals, they completely dictated the tempo against world number 1 Hungary. The Koreans launched an early assault to lead 15–7 after three legs, extended it to 30–21 after six bouts and comfortably maintained a nine-hit cushion across the final third of the match to win 45–36.
The gold medal showdown against AIN was an instant classic. The neutral squad built an initial 15–12 advantage after three legs, but the momentum violently shifted when Oh launched a spectacular 10–4 counter-attack against individual individual champion Kamil Ibragimov, handing Korea a 30–28 cushion. AIN dug deep to wrestle the lead back 40–39 entering the final bout, setting up a dramatic anchor leg. Standing on the strip against individual silver medallist Pavel Graudyn, Oh executed flawlessly under intense pressure, firing off a clinical 6–4 run to seal the tournament by a single touch.
AIN (World number 10) booked their spot in the final through absolute tactical resilience, winning a succession of high-pressure thrillers. After identical 45–43 victories over Egypt and world number 2 France in the early knockout phases, they engaged in a grueling semi-final battle against Romania. Trailing 15–13 early and 30–28 with three legs to go, AIN surged ahead 40–39 in the eighth leg through Dmitriy Nasonov. Graudyn then out-fenced Radu Nitu 5–3 in the final leg to guide Pavel Graudyn, Kamil Ibragimov, Anatoliy Kostenko and Dmitriy Nasonov to a 45–42 victory.
Hungary (World number 1) rebounded from their semi-final loss to capture the bronze medal, securing their first team podium of the campaign. The elite unit of Benedek Dallos, Krisztian Rabb, Andras Szatmari and Aron Szilagyi trailed Romania 15–11 after three legs, with Szatmari doing the heavy lifting to keep his squad in touch. The turning point arrived in the fifth leg, where Rabb authored a magnificent 11–3 blitz against Razvan Ursachi to catapult Hungary into a 30–25 lead. Despite a spirited Romanian fightback that closed the gap to 40–37, Rabb maintained his fine form in the anchor leg to seal a 45–38 victory.
Romania (World number 6) put together an exceptional run to place fourth. Building on their recent silver medal in Budapest, the trio of George Dragomir, Razvan Ursachi and Radu Nitu caused a massive shock wave in the quarter-finals by knocking out world number 3 Italy 45–38.
