"I'm so happy I was able to bring home a good result"... Song Se-ra wins épée gold with a dominant 15-8 victory

Three years ago in Hangzhou, the individual medal Song Se-ra (33, Busan Metropolitan City Hall) hung around her neck was silver. On September 22, 2026, in Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, that medal turned to gold. Even for an athlete who has won the World Championships individual title twice, this is her first individual gold medal at a multi-sport Games.

Song Se-ra wins the final 15-8, defeating Singapore's Kiria Tikanah

The final was held at Aichi Sky Expo. Her opponent was Singapore's Kiria Tikanah Abdul Rahman (26). Yonhap News reported that Song Se-ra won 15-8. It was a dominant 7-point win. Singapore's public sports body ActiveSG Circle also reported the same score.

This gold medal is the first gold medal Korean fencing has won at this Games. SBS reported that it was the sixth gold medal for the Korean team overall. In the September 23 release of the MBN interview, Song Se-ra said, "I prepared with some difficult training for this medal, and I'm so happy I was able to bring home a good result."

Song Se-ra through Hangzhou silver: 3 events, 2021-2023

At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, she won silver in the women's team épée. The following year, at the 2022 Cairo World Championships, she won both the individual and team events to become a double champion. In the 2022-23 season, she even reached No. 1 in the International Fencing Federation (FIE) world rankings.

At the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, she won team gold but had to settle for silver in the individual event. The following year, at the 2024 Paris Olympics, she was eliminated in the round of 16 in the individual event. In both multi-sport Games she entered after reaching world No. 1, she failed to win the individual title.

Year	Event	Result
2021	Tokyo Olympics	Team silver
2022	Cairo World Championships	Individual gold, team gold
2023	Hangzhou Asian Games	Individual silver, team gold
2024	Paris Olympics	Individual round-of-16 exit
2026	Hong Kong World Championships	Individual gold
2026	Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games	Individual gold

Two individual gold medals in 2026, at the World Championships and the Asian Games

The rebound came in 2026. Song Se-ra won the women's épée individual title again at the Hong Kong World Championships. Another article from Yonhap News' English edition and Aju Press described it as her second World Championships individual title, following 2022. Then in September of the same year, she added an Asian Games individual gold medal.

The two achievements need to be considered separately. Song Se-ra has 3 World Championships gold medals on her FIE record, but that number includes team events. Matching it against her career, they are the 2022 individual and team golds and the 2026 individual gold. This is her second World Championships individual title, and her first Asian Games individual title. It took 3 years to climb one step higher than in Hangzhou.

Song Se-ra is world No. 3 with 197 points, 3 points behind No. 1

Rank	Athlete	Nationality	Points
1	Alberta Santuccio	Italy	200 points
2	Eszter Muhari	Hungary	200 points
3	Song Se-ra	South Korea	197 points
4	Katrina Lehis	Estonia	190 points
5	Julia Ricci	Italy	168 points

These are the values from the FIE rankings table, checked at 03:00 Korean time on September 24, 2026. It does not show when the table was actually updated. Song Se-ra is third with 197 points. She is 3 points behind the tied No. 1 and No. 2 at 200 points, and 7 points ahead of No. 4 Lehis (190 points). The top 4 are bunched within 10 points.

Her final opponent Kiria was born in 2000, 7 years younger than Song Se-ra. She competed in both the 2021 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Olympics, and won bronze at the 2025 Bali Asian Championships. A right-hander who studied chemistry at the National University of Singapore, she faced the left-handed Song Se-ra in the final.

There are also points that could not be confirmed. The body of the record could not be retrieved from the Games' official results site, so the 15-8 score was cross-checked against multiple news outlets and materials from Singapore's public sports body. The start time of the final and the confirmed prize money for this Games were also not verified. The individual event is over, but the Games go on.

Frequently asked questions

Q. How old is Song Se-ra, and what team does she belong to?

Song Se-ra was born on September 6, 1993, in Geumsan, South Chungcheong Province, and was 33 years old at the time of the final. She belongs to Busan Metropolitan City Hall and is a left-handed épée fencer who stands 164cm.

Q. Who was Song Se-ra's opponent in the final?

It was Singapore's Kiria Tikanah Abdul Rahman. Song Se-ra won 15-8, and Kiria received the silver medal. The spelling of the name differs across domestic and foreign reports, but the result and score are the same.

Q. How much is Song Se-ra's prize money?

The confirmed amount of prize money or reward for winning this Asian Games title has not been verified. Newsis and Financial News reported that in July 2022, Busan city announced it would pay 20 million won for her World Championships achievement, but that is separate from this Games.

Related official sites

• Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games official results — Look up official match results by event
• FIE profile of athlete Song Se-ra — International competition medal and career records
• FIE women's épée individual rankings — Check season world rankings and points
• Official athlete record of Song Se-ra at the Hangzhou Asian Games — Her individual silver and team gold from the previous Games

Featured image · Archive photo · Not a scene from the current match in the article · Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Syced), CC0

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