(Olympics) Lee Joon-hwan wins bronze in men’s judo

Lee Joon-hwan claimed a bronze medal in the men’s -81-kilogram judo at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday for South Korea’s second medal in the sport here.

Lee, world No. 3, defeated the top-ranked Matthias Casse of Belgium in one of the two bronze medal contests at Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris.

Lee scored the decisive “waza-ari,” or a half point, 48 seconds into the sudden-death extra period.

Lee Joon-hwan of South Korea reacts to his win over Matthias Casse of Belgium in the bronze medal match of the men’s -81-kilogram judo event at the Paris Olympics at Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris on July 30, 2024. (Yonhap)

Lee ran into his old nemesis from Georgia, world No. 2 Tato Grigalashvili, in the semifinals, and lost by a decisive ippon in the extra session after being the aggressor most of the match.

Lee, 22, shook off the disappointing loss and took down Casse with a bronze medal at stake. Less than a minute into the extra period, Lee finished off the Belgian with “ko-uchi-gari,” or small inner reap.

South Korea now has two silver medals in judo so far in Paris, with Huh Mimi having finished second in the women’s -57kg on Monday.

Also in judo on Tuesday, Kim Ji-su lost to Lubjana Piovesana of Austria in the repechage match in the women’s -63kg after falling to Katarina Kristo of Croatia in the quarterfinals.

Kim, world No. 16, upset the top-ranked Joanne van Lieshout of the Netherlands in the round of 16, but lost her next two matches to miss out on a chance to compete for a medal.