Lee Hyun-ji secured a silver medal in the women’s over-78kg judo final at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games, falling by ippon to China’s Niu Xinlan after holding an early advantage, starnewskorea.com reported. Competing in her first Asian Games at age 19, the South Korean heavyweight entered the tournament ranked fourth in the world.
Early Waza-ari Gives Way to Decisive Counterattack
The final at the Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan, began with Lee dictating the pace. She established control during the grip-fighting exchanges and scored a waza-ari at one minute and 20 seconds into the bout using an ushiro-gake leg technique.
With one minute and 46 seconds remaining on the clock, Lee forced a penalty against her opponent and appeared positioned to close out the match. However, Niu countered a subsequent leg attack, executing an ushiro-gake of her own that yielded a decisive ippon and handed Lee a late defeat.
The result leaves Lee winless in four career head-to-head matches against Niu, who holds the ninth spot in the world rankings. The silver medal also halts South Korea’s streak in the absolute division following Kim Ha-yun’s gold medal performance at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
Rapid Rise Through Junior and Senior Ranks
Lee reached the Asian Games final after a swift transition to the senior international circuit. She claimed the youth world title in October 2024 while attending Namnyeong High School before moving up to the senior ranks last year.
Her first year as a senior included a gold medal at the Astana Grand Slam in Kazakhstan and a bronze medal at the World Championships. In December, she defeated her compatriot and predecessor Kim Ha-yun by ippon via shime-waza at the Tokyo Grand Slam, earning the 2025 Korea Judo Association MVP honor.
Lee earned her spot on the national team this past March by defeating Kim. In her preliminary matches in Nagoya, she defeated Thailand’s Totan Satchadet by ippon in five seconds during the quarterfinals and edged Japan’s Miki Mukonoki by a waza-ari in the semifinals.
Lee Prepares for Mixed Team Event and World Championships
Lee’s silver medal concluded her individual campaign on a day when South Korea’s men’s over-100kg gold medal favorite, Kim Min-jong of the Yangpyeong County Office, was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Lee returns to the tatami for the mixed team event, and she is scheduled to travel to Baku, Azerbaijan, for the upcoming World Championships following the conclusion of the Asian Games.
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