Jang Se-yun Secures Valuable Silver in Debut with Streak of Ippon Wins

[Anchor]

South Korea's national judo team has begun its medal hunt at the Nagoya Asian Games. On the opening day, Jang Se-yun captured a valuable silver medal in the women's 52kg division, showcasing a stellar streak of ippon victories in her first-ever Asian Games appearance.

Ha Seong-ryong reports from Nagoya.

[Reporter]

Competing in her debut Asian Games, 23-year-old Jang Se-yun left a strong impression right from her opening match in the round of 16.

Just 16 seconds into the match, she claimed an ippon victory over her Kyrgyzstani opponent with a lightning-fast inner thigh sweep (uchimata), and followed up with another ippon win against a Chinese competitor in the quarterfinals using a foot sweep (sasae-tsurikomi-ashi).

The semifinal was a thrilling victory.

Trading two penalties (shido) apiece with gold medal favorite Fujishiro of Japan, the match went into a grueling golden score overtime period. Jang advanced via a disqualification win after Fujishiro received a third penalty for a false attack.

Her final match against Kadamboyeva of Uzbekistan ended in heartbreak.

Once again, both fighters exchanged two penalties before entering overtime, but Jang picked up a third penalty for grabbing her opponent's trousers with her hand, resulting in a loss by disqualification.

Though she narrowly missed out on the gold, she adorned South Korea's first medal of the competition in silver.

[Jang Se-yun / National Judo Team Member: "I thought to myself, 'I might actually have a shot at the gold medal, I think I can win it,' but it seems there are still many stronger opponents out there. I need to work harder and practice more before coming back again."]

On today (the 1st), the second day of judo events, gold medal favorites Lee Jun-hwan in the men's division and Huh Mimi in the women's division will challenge for golden throws.
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In sport climbing, Lee Do-hyun claimed the silver medal in the men's boulder event.

After a shaky start with a score of zero on the first of four problems, he showed great resilience to finish second behind world number one Sorato Anraku of Japan.

In the women's speed event, Jeong Ji-min claimed the bronze medal.

(Video by: Park Hyun-chul | Video Editing by: Park Jung-sam)