Judoka Huh Mimi Reaches Final; Lee Joon-hwan Headed to Bronze Medal Match

South Korean women's judo national team powerhouse Huh Mimi (Gyeongbuk Sports Council) has successfully advanced to the final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Competing in the women's 57kg semifinal held at the Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan, on October 1, Huh secured at least a silver medal by defeating Shukurjon Aminova (Uzbekistan) via a default win (Hansoku-make).

She created an advantageous situation when Aminova received a shido (penalty) with 3 minutes and 8 seconds remaining in regulation, and subsequently applied pressure with various techniques, including a left-sided drop seoi-nage.

Although it did not lead to a scoring point, it was effective in seizing the flow of the match.

Huh and Aminova traded a penalty each with 1 minute and 45 seconds left on the clock, and Huh advanced to the final by default when Aminova received her third penalty with 30 seconds remaining.

Aminova committed a prohibited act of bending Huh's arm while attempting a throwing technique.

Huh is a leading figure in South Korean women's judo who won a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

A Zainichi Korean born to a South Korean father and a Japanese mother, Huh chose South Korean citizenship in 2021 following the dying wish of her grandmother, who wanted to see her compete as a South Korean athlete.

Ahead of the Paris Olympics, she drew significant attention after it was revealed she is a fifth-generation descendant of the independence activist Huh Seok.

Prior to the Paris Olympics, she vowed to memorize the South Korean national anthem and sing it on the podium after winning gold, but she had to settle for a silver medal after a controversial decision loss to Christa Deguchi (Canada) in the women's 57kg final.

Expressing her firm determination ahead of the current tournament, she stated, "I definitely want to win a gold medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games and take it to my grandmother's grave, and I will sing the national anthem that I memorized for the Paris Olympics this time."

This marks the first time Huh has competed in an individual event at the Asian Games.
Lee Joon-hwan (Pohang City Hall), who was considered a top contender for the men's 81kg title, unfortunately failed to reach the final.

He dropped to the bronze medal match after falling to Japan's Sotaro Fujiwara by a waza-ari defeat via o-soto-gari during a grueling golden score overtime period in the semifinals.

It was a disappointing match.

Lee appeared to score a waza-ari early in the match, but the decision was overturned to an opponent's penalty following a video review.

Afterward, Lee engaged in a fierce grip-fighting battle, failing to settle the outcome during regulation time.

Lee created an advantageous situation 1 minute and 4 seconds into overtime when his opponent received a second penalty.

He was in a position where securing one more penalty would have sent him to the final.

However, Lee struggled to successfully execute techniques and instead received a penalty himself at the 3-minute and 24-second mark.

He eventually lost 4 minutes and 17 seconds into overtime after conceding an o-soto-gari technique to Fujiwara.

Having won a silver medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games and a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Lee aimed for his first major international multi-sport event gold medal at this tournament, leaving lingering regret.

Kim Ji-su (Gyeongbuk Sports Council) also advanced to the bronze medal match in the women's 63kg category.

She suffered an ippon defeat via o-soto-gari against Esmigul Kuyulova (Kazakhstan) in the quarterfinals, but secured her ticket to the bronze medal match by defeating Zhang Wen (China) in the repechage with a waza-ari from a seoi-nage followed by an ippon via o-uchi-gari.

In the men's 73kg event, Ahn Jae-hong (Namyangju City Hall) dropped to the repechage after conceding a waza-ari via sasae-tsurikomi-ashi to Shakhram Ahadov (Uzbekistan) in the quarterfinals, and subsequently missed out on a medal after losing to Enkhdush Lkhagvasuren (Mongolia).

Kim Hye-mi (Gwangju Metropolitan Public Transportation Corporation) was eliminated in the women's 70kg round of 16 following a default loss to North Korea's Moon Sung-hee.

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