Kim Min-young Wins Women's Over-87kg Gold... South Korea's First-Ever Kurash Gold at Asian Games

Kim Min-young (21, Korea National Sport University) has become South Korea's first-ever gold medalist in kurash at the Asian Games.

Kim defeated Szu Liu-ling of Taiwan 5-0 in the final of the women's over-87kg kurash event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium in Nagoya, Japan, on the 29th.

This marks South Korea's first kurash gold medal since the sport was introduced as an official Asian Games event at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games.

Having achieved its first podium finishes at the 2022 Hangzhou Games with one silver and two bronze medals, South Korea concluded this tournament with one gold and one silver medal.

Following Mo Su-min (Korea National Sport University), who became the first South Korean female kurash athlete to stand on the podium by winning a silver medal in the women's 78kg division the previous day, Kim went a step further to reach the top of the podium.

Earlier in the day, Kim defeated her Vietnamese opponent in the Round of 16 and her Kazakhstani opponent in the quarterfinals via 'Halal' (ippon equivalent).

In the semifinals, she advanced to the final after defeating Arailym Schegenova of Kazakhstan 1-0 following a match where both recorded one 'Chala'.

Kim, who won the women's over-87kg title at this year's Asian Championships, met the runner-up from that tournament, Szu Liu-ling, once again in the Asian Games final.

In the final, Kim took an early lead by securing a Chala, but Szu quickly balanced the score by earning a Chala of her own.

The match was decided when Szu received two penalties resulting in 'Datki'.

Thanks to her opponent's Datki, Kim earned a 'Yonbosh' (worth 5 points) to secure a 5-0 victory.

Kim, who started judo in middle school following a friend, began practicing kurash upon the recommendation of a professor after entering university.

She translated the skills built by balancing both sports into her first-ever Asian Games gold medal.

Meanwhile, Park Jong-won, competing in the same weight class, lost 0-3 to Arailym Schegenova of Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals, while Yoon Hyun-soo was defeated 0-10 by Kubanychbek Aybek Ulu of Kyrgyzstan in the men's 66kg quarterfinals.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.