She beat her nemesis... Judo's Jang Se-yoon, held back by an opponent she had beaten in all three previous meetings, earns a medal of fighting spirit: 'Endured the pain of a torn pelvis' [Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games]

*This content was translated by AI.

Jang Se-yoon (23, KH Philux), a member of the Korean women's Yoo Do (CEO) team, won a silver medal at her first-ever Asian Games appearance.

In the final of the women's 52 kg judo event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held on the 30th at Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan, Jang Se-yoon received three penalties and lost by disqualification after a close golden score overtime bout against Sita Kadamboeva (Uzbekistan). She had defeated this opponent in all three of their meetings at international competitions this year, but failed to overcome the final hurdle.

Although she missed out on the gold medal, she achieved a valuable result. Jang Se-yoon advanced through both the round of 16 and quarterfinals with ippon victories, then defeated Japan's Fujishiro Kokoro by disqualification in overtime in the semifinal.

This was the result of her focus on gripping and defensive training to overcome an opponent against whom she had a record of three losses in three meetings. Despite the setback of injuring her pelvis just before the tournament and being unable to undergo normal training, she reached the final with her characteristic tenacity.

Jang Se-yoon, who has parents who are former national team judo athletes, showed promise from her junior days, but experienced ups and downs after entering the senior stage, missing out on qualification for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. However, she proved her competitiveness by adding this tournament's silver medal to her bronze at last year's Asian Championships and gold at the Summer Universiade.

On this day, the Korean Yoo Do (CEO) team had a somewhat sluggish start due to Jeong Su-jin's (women's 48 kg) disqualification for exceeding the random weigh-in limit and Lee Ha-rim's (men's 66 kg) early elimination, but Jang Se-yoon turned the atmosphere around by bringing home the first medal.

The Yoo Do (CEO) team will continue its full-scale gold medal hunt in the remaining schedule, led by Kim Min-jong, Lee Jun-hwan, Heo Mi-mi, and others.

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*This content was translated by AI.