KOR
▲ Choi Jeong-man of the Yeongam County Folk Ssireum Troupe
Choi Jeong-man of the Yeongam County Folk Ssireum Troupe has captured his 26th career Geumgang title at the Withus Pharm 2026 Folk Ssireum Mungyeong Omija Ssireum Tournament.
Today (Aug. 2), Choi decisively defeated Kim Tae-ha of the Suwon City Hall Ssireum Troupe 3-0 in the best-of-five Geumgang class (90kg or under) final held at the Mungyeong Gymnasium in Gyeongsangbuk-do.
Having previously won the Geumgang title at the Danyang Ondal Ssireum Tournament in March and the Boeun Dano Ssireum Tournament in June, Choi secured his third title of this season with this victory.
This brings his total number of careerjangsa titles to 26.
Choi advanced to the final without dropping a single round from the Round of 16 to the semifinals earlier that day.
In the first round of the final, he seized the initiative with a jabcha-gi (twist-and-trip), and in the second round, he countered Kim Tae-ha's surprise deur-dwijigi (lift-and-twist) to take a 2-0 lead.
He then clinched the championship in the third round by taking down Kim Tae-ha with a mireo-chi-gi (push-out).
Kim Gi-su and Jeon Do-won, both from the Suwon City Hall Ssireum Troupe, tied for third place.
(Photo courtesy of the Korea Ssireum Association, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.
