After winning her first individual gold medal at the Asian Games, Yoon Ji-ji (30-Seoul City Hall), who has clearly made her mark as the new face of women’s sabre in fencing, had a special word of thanks for her “big sister” Kim Ji-yeon (34), who has guided her throughout her international career.
“My group was very difficult from the qualification, so I called my sister Ji-yeon and we talked,” Yoon said after winning gold in the women’s individual sabre event at the Hangzhou Asian Games 2022 at the Hangzhou University of Electronic Science and Technology Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China, on Saturday. “Her words, ‘You’re still the best,’ gave me a lot of strength.
Yun defeated Yao Yachi (CHN) 15-10 in the final of the day to win the individual title.
It is the first individual medal for Yoon, who also won team gold at the 2014 Incheon and 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games.
It came after being the youngest member of the team at the previous two Asian Games.
The women’s sabre team is going through a period of change, with Kim Ji-yeon retiring from the national team in April after making history on the international stage, including a bronze medal in the team event at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, but Yoon Ji-soo’s individual victory at the Asian Games signaled a new era.
Kim, a gold medalist in the women’s individual sabre at the London 2012 Olympics and the team’s ‘ace’, has hung up her armband to serve as a commentator for SBS Fencing at the Games.
Kim gave her junior teammate some warm words of advice ahead of the big event, and even broke down in tears during the broadcast when Yoon Ji-soo won a hard-fought semifinal against Zainab Dybekova (Uzbekistan) to advance to the final.
When Yoon Ji-soo heard the news, she said, “Ji-yeon, are you watching? Thank you so much.”
“This season has been especially hard for me because my sister has been on and off during my national team career. “Part of me thinks that I can’t have her forever, so I have to accept it, and I feel like I know the weight she was feeling,” he said.
Yoon Ji-soo, who is also known as the daughter of KBO talent donor Yoon Hak-gil, a Lotte Giants “legend” who set the record for “100 complete games” while playing professional baseball, is grateful for the “athlete DNA” her father passed on to her.
“My athleticism is similar to my father’s, and I think my mental strength to last until the last round is also similar to his,” she said.
In the individual competition, Yoon showed her ability to overcome deficits in the round of 16 against Paola Pliego (Uzbekistan) and the semifinals against Dybekova. Her instincts for turning things around in the team competition at the Tokyo Olympics were on full display in the individual competition, leading to the gold medal.
“I actually didn’t expect to win gold,” Yoon said. I had never beaten the player I met in the semifinals before, so it was very difficult, and even in the final, I didn’t feel like I had won anything,” she said. “Any medal color is great, so I thought I would just play without regrets, and I think I got a good result.”
“I didn’t have a single moment of relaxation during the individual competition even before I came to the Games,” he smiled, “but I’m most happy that it’s over, and I’m even happier that it’s a gold medal.”
“I still have a lot to work on. I think I need more experience to be able to change according to my opponents, and I think today’s experience will help me a lot,” she said, emphasizing that she will grow even more through this season.
Yoon will look to join her siblings in the team event on Monday. The Korean women’s sabre team will be looking to win their third consecutive team title.
“I’m sure my siblings are looking at me and thinking that I’m envious and want to win a gold medal, but I’m going to push those feelings aside and inspire them to focus on their game,” Yoon said, adding, “I’ll do my best in the team event.” 슬롯사이트