O Sang-uk crowned MVP after winning double crown for second consecutive time; receives 30 million won prize... Spirit Award goes to Techball's Lee Jun-seok [Aichi-Nagoya AG]

*This content was translated by AI.

O Sang-uk (30, Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall), the flagship star of Korean fencing who achieved a double crown for the second consecutive time, was selected as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Korean delegation at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

The Korea Sports and Olympic Committee announced on the 4th, at a press conference held at the Korea House in Nagoya, Japan, that O Sang-uk was chosen as the MVP of the Korean delegation based on voting by local reporters covering the games. O Sang-uk, who received the highest honor, will be awarded a prize money of 30 million won.

O Sang-uk, who achieved the first double crown in the history of Korean fencing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, also swept both the men's individual and team sabre events at this Asian Games, demonstrating the prowess of the world's strongest fencer.

Following his performance at the 2022 Hangzhou Games held in 2023, O Sang-uk has now won a double crown for two consecutive games, increasing his total number of Asian Games gold medals to five by adding the team event gold medal from the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games. He is now just one medal away from matching the record held by senior fencer Koo Bon-gil (6 medals), who holds the record for the most Asian Games gold medals won by a Korean athlete.

The process of achieving two victories despite chronic lower back disc pain was a dramatic saga. In the individual final on the 23rd of last month, O Sang-uk trailed Xian Feng (China) 11-13 but scored four consecutive points to secure a 15-13 comeback victory, achieving his second consecutive title at the games.

Subsequently, in the team final against Japan on the 26th, O Sang-uk, competing alongside Park Sang-won (Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall), Do Kyung-dong (Daegu Metropolitan City Hall), and Hwang Hee-geun, turned around a match on the brink of defeat. In the final ninth round, trailing 41-44, O Sang-uk stepped onto the piste and scored four consecutive points in quick succession to complete a 45-44 dramatic comeback victory, leading Korean fencing to its fourth consecutive team sabre title and fifth consecutive individual title.

The Korea Sports and Olympic Committee also announced the recipients of the Spirit Award, the Skill Development Award, and the Coach Leader Award (each with a prize money of 10 million won).

The Spirit Award went to Lee Jun-seok, who quit his job to devote himself to training and became the inaugural champion in men's singles Techball. The Skill Development Award was jointly awarded to Cho Gwang-hee and Kim Hyo-bin (both Ulsan Metropolitan City Hall), who overcame a harsh training environment to dominate the 500m kayak four (K4) and kayak two (K2) events, becoming the first double crown winners for the Korean delegation. The Coach Leader Award was received by Park Gil-tae, the men's 3x3 basketball coach who led the team to their 800th gold medal in Asian Games history and the first victory in the event's history.

In addition, five others were selected as recipients of special awards: Park Ju-bong, the head badminton coach who directed An Se-young's second consecutive title and the women's doubles gold medal after 24 years; marathon runner Park Min-ho, who competed with a fighting spirit despite injury; Kang Jun-ee, who won the first gold medal in Korean skateboarding history; Ha Jimin, who reached the top for the fourth time in his career at the games; and Kim Jong-ho, who shot the first-ever gold medal in men's individual compound archery.

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*This content was translated by AI.