Four-time Olympian Gu Bon-gil out of chance for individual sabre medal

Gu Bon-gil is out of the individual men’s sabre contest at the 2024 Paris Olympics, losing 15-8 in the round of 32 against Tunisia's Fares Ferjani at the Grand Palais.

Gu Bon-gil, left, reacts after losing the round of 32 in the individual men's sabre event on Saturday in Paris. [YONHAP]

Veteran Korean fencer Gu Bon-gil is out of the individual men’s sabre contest at the 2024 Paris Olympics, losing 15-8 in the round of 32 against Tunisia's Fares Ferjani at the Grand Palais.

The loss ended hopes for an individual Olympic medal at the 34-year-old’s fourth straight Olympics as he reached the end of the road in his first bout on the piste.

Gu Bon-gil, left, falls during the men's sabre individual round of 32 match against Turkey's Fares Ferjani at the Grand Palais in Paris on Saturday. [YONHAP]

Gu is a two-time gold-medalist in the men’s sabre team event, where Korea are the reigning champions, but has never won an individual sabre medal.

Teammates Oh Sang-uk and Park Sang-won, a first-time Olympian, both made the cut for the top 16.

Park defeated the United States’ Colin Heathcock 15-10, and Oh beat Nigeria’s Evann Jean Abba Girault 15-8 to advance to the next elimination round.

Korea's Oh Sang-uk celebrates after his round-of-32 victory at the Grand Palais in Paris on Saturday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Both were set to compete in the round of 16 later Saturday as of press time.

Gu is the most senior member of the men’s fencing team, making his Olympic debut at the 2012 Olympics. But he entered the tournament as the lowest-ranked fencer on the men’s team, at the No. 20 seed, and he’s been overshadowed by his younger teammates.

His Tokyo men’s sabre teammate Oh dethroned him as the long-time reigning Asian Games men’s sabre champion in Hangzhou, China last fall.

Korea’s Song Se-ra earlier became the only Korean woman to advance to the round of 16 and was set to compete in the quarterfinals later Saturday as of press time.

Women's team epee, where Korea won silver in Tokyo, lands on July 30 and men's team sabre, where Korea is after a third-straight gold, takes place on July 31.

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