(2nd LD) (Asiad) S. Korean judoka Jeong Gyeong-mi defends gold in inter-Korea showdown

(ATTN: ADDS more detail, other results from 15th para)
By Kim Boram

INCHEON, Sept. 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korean female judoka Jeong Gyeong-mi defended her Asiad under-78 kilogram title by defeating North Koreas's Sol Kyong at the Asian Games in Incheon on Monday.

Ranking eighth in the world, Jeong became the first South Korean female judo fighter to win two straight golds at the Asian Games. The 29-year old had topped the 78㎏ event at the Guangzhou Asiad in 2010.

Zhang Zhehui from China and Mami Umeki from Japan shared bronze.

After a quarterfinal bye, Jeong had her first match against Mongolia's Battulga Munkhtuya in the semis.

With an ippon victory over the Mongolian player with 2 minutes and 29 seconds remaining, the 2008 Olympics bronze medalist rallied to the final to set the first inter-Korean duel at the Incheon Asiad.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the draw, North Korea's Sol Kyong grabbed another final berth after beating China's Zhang Zhehui in the semis by ippon.

Sol had been involved in another inter-Korean match in judo four years ago, having lost to the South's Hwang Ye-sul in the women's 70㎏ at the Guangzhou Asiad after using a banned technique.

Then, Sol moved up a weight class to -78㎏ and won the 2013 world championship in the new category, setting herself up for the inter-Korean duel south of the border.

In the gold-medal decider at Dowon Gymnasium in Incheon, the two rivals had some skirmishes in the four-minute battle, but no one could put down a decisive technique to earn a score.

So the number of penalties was important to decide the winner, as Sol received two shidos, or penalties, in the first three minutes while Jeong earned only one shido.

With the victory, Jeong leads a head-to-head record 2-0 against the North Korean rival. She beat Sol at the Asian Judo Championships last year.

"Preparing for the Asiad, the training was so hard that I wanted to give up," said Jeong. "I want to thank my coach and staff who led me to this stage."

The gold medalist said she was on the edge of her seat ahead of the final against Sol, even though they are close friends after frequent international encounters.

"The North Korean fighter won the world title and is very hard to defeat, so I was nervous," said Jeong. "We've talked a lot when we competed in international events. She's friendly and she's not like a foreign athlete. Nevertheless, I'm happy I won."

The 29-year veteran judoka was uncertain about her future, including whether she would compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

"A back injury has bothered me a lot. During the last matches, it hurt," she said. "I haven't thought about the future. I've just focused on the Asian Games."

In the meantime, silver medalist Sol Kyong did not appear in the official post-match conference.

Along with Joeng's gold, South Korea bagged four bronze medals from judo on Monday.

In the men's under 90㎏ division, Gwak Dong-han won bronze through repechage.

He eased to the quarters on an ippon victory over Awad Mohammed Naemi from Qatar in the round of 16.

On the next stage, however, Gwak was upset by Mongolian Lkhagvasuren Otgonbaatar, ranking 120th in the weight, by waza-ari and relegated to repechage. He stands at 24th in the world rankings.

He beat Komronshoh Ustopiriyon from Tajikistan by golden score in the bronze-medal competition.

Cho Gu-ham also donned the bronze medal and stood on the Asiad podium a year after downgrading her weight class from over-100㎏ to under-100㎏.

He beat Japan's Yusuke Kumashiro by shido in the round of 16 but could not overcome Mongolia's Naidan Tuvshinbayar in the quarterfinals and dropped to repechage.

In the bronze-medal contest, he slammed Iranian Javad Mahjoub by ippon.

Despite a shoulder dislocation, South Korea's Kim Eun-kyeong picked up bronze in the women's over-78㎏.

Kim went on an easy start to beat Kazakhstan's Zarina Raifova by ippon in the quarters.

In the semifinals, however, she injured her right shoulder as she was thrown by Japan's Nami Inamori.

In the bronze medal decider against Nagira Sarbashova from Kyrgyzstan, she earned bronze on an ippon win.

Kim Sung-min earned bronze in the men's heaviest, over-100㎏, after beating Mukhamadnurod Abdurankhmonov from Tajikistan by shido. The world No. 8 suffered a shoulder-throw ippon by Ulziibayar Duuren from Mongolia just 31 minutes into the semifinals.

His bronze is the 100th medal in judo that South Korea has won at the Asian Games since 1986.

brk@yna.co.kr
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