Tough knockouts leave Song Se-ra sole Korean in women’s epee

Kang Young-mi and Lee Hye-in were knocked out of the individual women’s epee competition at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, leaving Song Se-ra to join the final 16 alone.

Korea's Kang Young-mi competes against Estonia's during the individual women's epee table of 32 on Saturday at the Grand Palais in Paris. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Korean fencers Kang Young-mi and Lee Hye-in were knocked out of the individual women’s epee competition at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, leaving Song Se-ra to join the final 16 alone.

Kang lost 14-13 to Estonia’s Nelli Differt in overtime after giving up an early lead. Differt, the No. 12 seed, made up for a two-point first round deficit to end the third period in a tie, forcing a final sudden-death bout.

Differt made first contact, celebrating her narrow victory with a loud shout as a defeated Kang slumped to a squat on the piste.

Kang Young-mi reacts to her lose in the individual women's epee round of 32 in Paris on Saturday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

At 39 years old, Kang is the oldest member of Korea’s fencing squad and entered the individual competition as the No. 21 seed.

Kang, alongside Lee, Song and Choi In-jeong, were silver medalists in the women’s team epee event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Lee, the No. 15 seed, lost 15-13 to No. 18-seed Yu Sihan of China after failing to win an advantage in any of the three periods.

But world No. 7 Song secured her spot in the round of 16, defeating Poland’s Martyna Swatowska-Wenglarczyk 15-11 as the first among her teammates to take the piste at the Grand Palais.

Song Se-ra cheers after winning her round of 32 match in the individual women's epee event at the Grand Palais in Paris on Saturday. [NEWS1]

Song was set to face Hungary’s Eszter Muhari later Saturday. Song failed to advance past the round of 16 in Tokyo in 2021.

All three will compete in the women’s team event alongside Choi as Korea takes on hosts France, a fencing powerhouse, on July 30.

Fourteen fencers, six men and eight women, are representing Korea across eight events — all three individual men’s events, men’s team sabre and both the individual and team competitions in women’s epee and sabre.

Korea’s Gu Bon-gil, Park Sang-won and Oh Sang-uk were also set to compete on Saturday as of press time, in the individual men's sabre round of 32.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]