The South Korea national judo team advanced to the mixed team semifinals at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games by defeating China 4-1 in the quarterfinals on Oct. 3 at the Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan. With the victory, South Korea moves one step closer to securing a mixed team medal in the tournament since 2018.
Quarterfinal Victory Over China
The mixed team competition features six weight categories split evenly between men and women, with the first team to secure four wins taking the match. In the opening men’s over-90kg bout, Kim Minjong faced Li Haiyang after both athletes competed earlier in the 100kg-plus individual tournament. Kim Minjong claimed two waza-ari scores to secure a victory and put South Korea on the board first.
Heo Mimi, who captured the gold medal in the women’s 57kg individual event just two days prior, met Tao Yuying in the second match. Neither judoka scored during the four-minute regulation period, pushing the contest into golden score overtime. Heo secured the win when her opponent accumulated three shido penalties.
Hard-Fought Bouts and Deciding Ippon
An Jaehong extended South Korea’s lead in the men’s 73kg division against Lin Gaohui following a grueling battle that lasted 8 minutes and 15 seconds including overtime. An forced his opponent into three shido penalties to claim the third point for his side. China pulled one point back in the fourth match when Tang Jing defeated Kim Hyemi by ippon in the women’s 70kg category.
Kim Jonghun sealed the semifinal berth in the fifth match of the tie, defeating Han Qi by ippon in just 2 minutes and 43 seconds. Kim secured a waza-ari with a seoi-nage throw 1 minute and 57 seconds into the bout before following up with a hold-down technique to complete the second waza-ari for an ippon finish.
Semifinal Opponents Await in Nagoya
South Korea will face the winner of the quarterfinal matchup between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in the upcoming semifinal round. The mixed team discipline made its Asian Games debut at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, where South Korea claimed a bronze medal before finishing fifth at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
