NAGOYA, Japan, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- Japan took three of the five judo golds on offer at the 2026 Asian Games on Thursday, while South Korea's Huh Mimi triumphed in the country where she was born and raised.
With eight seconds left in the women's 63kg final, Narumi Tanioka threw Kim Ji Hye of the DPR Korea to snatch gold. Her compatriot Sotaro Fujiwara pinned Kazakhstan's Adilet Almat to win the men's 81kg title, and Rin Maeda beat another Kazakh, Azhar Askhat, by ippon in the women's 70kg final. Japan has now won five judo golds in two days.
"More than anything, I'm just so relieved that I was able to win gold," said Tanioka. "Competing here in Japan, with so many supporters and my coaches in the crowd, I definitely felt the pressure and knew I had to win."
She added, "I knew that if I got into a specific position, I could definitely throw her, so I stayed patient and waited until my opponent showed signs of fatigue. Right when the time was running out before Golden Score, I saw her loosen up and made my move."
Huh, silver medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics, scored early with a shoulder throw against Mongolia's Ariunzaya Terbish and protected her lead to win the women's 57kg title.
Born and raised in Japan, Huh chose to compete for South Korea in accordance with her grandmother's wishes. She underwent shoulder surgery after Paris 2024 and told South Korean media she had worried about her form during a difficult recovery. Huh said she was glad to have kept her promise to take a gold medal to her grandmother's grave.
"It has been such a long and difficult journey, so to achieve a result like this makes me genuinely happy," she said. "There was a lot of pressure and expectation, and I could really feel the weight of it."
The fifth title went to the United Arab Emirates' Kazbek Naguchev, who defeated Uzbekistan's Shakhram Ahadov in the men's 73kg final.
China's Tao Yuying and Zhang Wen finished seventh in the women's 57kg and 63kg divisions, respectively. ■
