Oh Sang-uk (Yonhap) South Korea will look to return to the medal podium at the World Fencing Championships, which open Tuesday in Hong Kong, as the team builds toward the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.The July 22-30 tournament comes less than two months before the Asian Games. South Korea hopes to bounce back after finishing 10th overall last year with one silver and two bronze medals following a generational transition after the Paris Olympics.The Koreans enter with momentum after placing second at last month's Asian Fencing Championships, winning four golds, one silver and seven bronzes.Olympic champion Oh Sang-uk headlines the squad after sweeping the men's sabre individual and team titles at the Asian Championships. Oh is chasing his first individual world title since 2019 and was named one of the favorites by the International Fencing Federation (FIE), which cited his three individual titles this season.South Korea's men's sabre team of Oh, Do Gyeong-dong, Park Sang-won and Hwang Hee-geun enters the tournament ranked No. 1 in the world.In women's epee, former world champion Song Sera will bid for her second individual world title after winning gold in 2022. The Korean quartet, which also includes Lim Tae-hee, Lee Hye-in and Yang Seung-hye, tops the world team rankings and won gold at the Asian Championships.Women's sabre, led by Jeon Ha-young and Choi Se-bin, is also expected to contend for medals.Competition begins with individual qualifying from July 22-24, followed by the individual main draw from July 25-27 and team events from July 28-30.(This article was produced with the assistance of AI. — Ed.)