Wrestler Kim Min-seok Claims Valuable Bronze Despite Muscle Tear

South Korea's heavyweight wrestling powerhouse Kim Min-seok has achieved the valuable feat of winning a medal at his third consecutive Asian Games.

Today (the 30th), Kim defeated Aslan Agadadayev of Turkmenistan 7-2 in the bronze medal match of the men's Greco-Roman 130kg wrestling event at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Inae Sports Center in Nagoya, Japan, claiming the bronze medal.

This is the first medal won in wrestling at this competition.

Earlier today, Kim finished his round of 16 match against Rafael Chichuashvili of Uzbekistan tied 1-1, but lost based on the criteria of the first-point priority rule.

As Chichuashvili advanced to the final, Kim got an opportunity to enter the repechage, where he defeated Olzhas Shlyibayev of Kazakhstan 6-1 to advance to the bronze medal match.

In the early part of the first period of the bronze medal match, Kim sought opportunities while engaging in a tie-up battle.

With 1 minute and 20 seconds left in the first period, he earned a point due to his opponent's passivity and secured a par terre position.

Kim successfully executed a gut wrench attack to add 2 points, then continuously attempted further gut wrenches to either side, rapidly widening the score gap to 7-0 before giving up 1 point after allowing a counterattack.

Having established a 6-point lead, Kim calmly continued the match.

With 1 minute and 47 seconds remaining in the game, he gave up 1 point due to passivity and was placed in a par terre crisis, but he defended with all his might to prevent conceding further points.

Having succeeded in defense, Kim maintained his lead for the remainder of the time and closed out the match.

Kim has previously won one bronze medal at the World Championships, three silver and two bronze medals at the Asian Championships, and two bronze medals at Asian Games prior to this competition.

Having notably missed out on gold medals at major international competitions, Kim considered this event his final Asian Games and prepared with desperate determination.

In March of last year, during training, his left pectoral muscle tore and he was diagnosed as needing surgery. However, realizing that going under the knife would disrupt his preparations for the national team trials and the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, he postponed the surgery until after the competition, approaching his training with utmost desperation.

Kim also showed a strong will to win a gold medal by naming his son, who is due to be born in December, "Kim Medal" and dyeing his hair gold before departing for Japan.

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