Korea's Han Ju-yeop and Brazil's Rafael Macedo compete in a men's -90-kilogram repechage round match at the Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris on Wednesday. [AP/YONHAP]
Korean Judoka Han Ju-yeop failed to medal in the men’s -90-kilogram on Wednesday, losing a repechage match to Rafael Macedo of Brazil.
Macedo scored both an ippon and a waza-ari for a decisive win over the 25-year-old Korea, earning a spot in the bronze medal match and ending Han’s run in the individual tournament.
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Han arrived in the repechage after losing to Lasha Bekauri of Georgia in the quarterfinals. In Olympic judo, the quarterfinals losers advance to the repechage for one last medal bid. The repechage winners advance to the bronze medal match, where they face the two semifinal losers.
Although Han’s individual contest is over, he will return to the mat one more time on Saturday as he competes in the mixed team event.
Huh was the only Korean judoka active on Wednesday. Korea have so far won two judo medals at the Paris Olympics — Huh Mi-mi took silver in the women’s 57-kilogram and Lee Joon-hwan won bronze in the men 81-kilogram.
Korean judoka will be back in action on Thursday as Yoon Hyun-ji competes in the women’s -78-kilogram.