"You should know what is shameful; is biting a person a mistake?" Chinese judo villain who bit Japanese athlete's arm sparks outrage even within the continent [Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games]

*This content was translated by AI.

Evan Holyfield, who bit Mike Tyson's ear, and Luis Suarez' notorious biting incidents, which occurred a total of three times. And another historic 'biting' incident took place at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, with Japan unable to hide its anger.

The quarterfinals of the women's 70 kg judo event held at the Aichi International Arena in Japan on the 1st. An incident occurred where Japan's Maeda Rin had her left arm bitten by China's Tang Jing.

Maeda is a player evaluated as having an objective advantage over Tang Jing, ranked 29th in this weight class compared to Tang Jing's 115th place. Was it because of that? Tang Jing performed unexpected outrageous behavior.

Maeda aggressively pressed Tang Jing and created a pinning position. During the process of changing positions to attempt a hold-down, an incident occurred with the person underneath.

After the referee declared 'matte' (stop), Maeda showed her left arm to the referee and strongly appealed. She claimed that Tang Jing had bitten her left arm while being pinned underneath. It was stated that she held on and bit for about 20 seconds until the referee's declaration.

Tang Jing protested her grievance, but clear evidence remained. Distinct tooth marks were left on Maeda's left arm, and the referee declared a disqualification loss for Tang Jing.

Japanese sports media KokoKARA reported, "Just by looking at the tooth marks visible in the video, it is not difficult to imagine that Maeda endured considerable pain."

Nakamura Misato, a bronze medalist from the 2008 Beijing and 2016 Rio Olympics who appeared as a commentator, also made remarks. She was astonished, stating, "If she bit on top of the judogi, it is close to intentional," and added, "Such marks do not appear unless you bite hard. That level of tooth marks must have been quite painful. I think she bit quite hard."

According to another media outlet, Digest, Japan national team coach Tsukada Maki expressed bewilderment to reporters after the match, saying, "When we removed the (tape wrapped around) the arm, distinct tooth marks remained and it had become bruised. It was to the extent that I wondered if it might be bleeding."

Maeda, who met with reporters after winning the gold medal, revealed her injury. The marks were still visible even though about six hours had passed since the end of the quarterfinals. Maeda said, "I didn't know what to do in this unprecedented situation, but I first reported it to the referee," and added, "There was some pain, but when I got on the mat, adrenaline kicked in and I wasn't too bothered by it."

She then revealed the bite marks to reporters, explaining, "At first, I thought my teeth were just touching, but the pain was too severe. When I checked, it was clear that she had been biting."

Tang Jing herself refused post-match interview requests and did not participate in the repechage, resulting in a forfeit loss. On the other hand, Maeda defeated North Korea's Moon Seong-hee in the semifinals and Kazakhstan's Azhar Askhat with an ippon victory in the final to win the gold medal.

Critical public opinion is also continuing within China. Chinese media Sohu reported, "A controversial decision was made in the women's judo event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games," and regarding the scene that received the foul decision, stated, "During the grappling, Tang Jing 'accidentally' bit Maeda's left arm, leaving tooth marks." Netizens followed with harsh opinions regarding the expression of it as a mistake: "Stop making excuses. It is absurd," "Biting a person is a 'mistake'? Nonsense," "Biting because you can't win? She should receive a suspension penalty," and "Calling biting a person a 'mistake'? You should know what is shameful."

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*This content was translated by AI.