‘Queen of Tears’ Choi In-jung (33, Gyeryong City Hall) defeated Song Se-ra (30, Busan Metropolitan Government) in the women’s epee final at the Hangzhou Asian Games (AG) 2022 in a battle of Korean athletes.
Choi In-jung defeated Song Sera 9-8 in overtime in the final of the Hangzhou AG Women’s Individual Epee at the Hangzhou University of Electronic Arts Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China, on Thursday (June 24).
Choi, a junior who defeated world No. 2 Vivian Kong (Hong Kong) to reach the final, took the first set 2-2. She then battled back and forth at 3-4, 6-5 to take the third set at 8-8. In the ensuing tiebreaker, Choi was awarded a point to win the match.
Choi In-jung and Song Se-ra embraced, smiled and showed their emotions.
After back-to-back bronze medals at Incheon 2014 and Jakarta-Palembang 2018, world number one Choi finally won an individual gold medal.
Choi, a 15-year veteran of the national team, was previously ranked No. 1 in the women’s individual epee world rankings. She won silver in the team event at the 2012 London Olympics and two years ago in Tokyo. She has also won the Fencing International Federation (FIE) World Cup three times and the International Grand Prix twice.
However, she has had her share of disappointments in the individual competition at international tournaments. At the 2014 Incheon and 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, she had to settle for bronze in the individual event. At the Tokyo Olympics, she suffered a shock loss in the round of 32 of her first event to a player ranked outside the top 200. She was nicknamed the “Queen of Tears” for her tears in international competitions. Recently, she has faltered in international competitions and her world ranking has dropped to 17th.안전놀이터
Injeong Choi won her first individual gold medal at an international event. At the same time, she announced her retirement from the national team after Hangzhou AG. “I’m only going to play for the national team until this year and then I’m going to retire,” he said, announcing his intention to return the Taeguk mark.
Choi In-jung will try for one last gold medal. Along with Song Sera, Kang Young-mi (38, Gwangju City Office) and Lee Hye-in (28, Gangwon Provincial Office), she will try to complete the “beauty of the species” by winning gold in the team event.
“I feel like this gold medal is a gift for all the hard work I’ve put in, so I feel like I can go out with a bang,” the former ‘Queen of Tears’ laughed.
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