China’s Ma Yulin Wins First Judo Bronze at Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games

Ma Yulin’s Opening Day Path to the Podium in Nagoya

Ma’s Asian Games debut opened with a 1/8-finals victory over Kyrgyzstan’s Kanatbek Ulu. In the quarterfinals, he fell to tournament host and Japanese judo standout Ryuju Kondo, forcing him into the repechage bracket. He rebounded by defeating Bahrain’s Polotarsky to advance to the bronze-medal match.

Standing across the mat in the bronze-medal bout was Chinese Taipei veteran Yang Yung-wei, a historical figure in his delegation’s sports history as Chinese Taipei’s first Olympic judo medalist. Yang claimed silver at the Tokyo Olympics and gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games, bringing formidable defensive skills and a signature seoi-nage throwing technique to the contest.

Golden Score Marathon Against Olympic Medalist Yang Yung-wei

Neither judoka scored during the regulation four-minute period, extending the match into the golden score overtime period. At 12 minutes and 49 seconds total elapsed time, Ma capitalized on a counter-attack to secure a waza-ari score, ending the marathon bout.

“I know my opponents are very strong, so I was prepared for a tough fight,” Ma said after the match. “Even though the process wasn’t smooth, I kept motivating myself.”

Reflecting on the grueling overtime period, Ma highlighted the mental and physical demands of the encounter. “When it went into golden score, I knew I couldn’t relax. My teammates and coaches were shouting encouragement, which kept me going. I had a few chances earlier but my reaction was a bit slow, though I finally caught that moment.”

Broader Chinese Team Results on Day One

The gold medal in the men’s 60kg division went to Japan’s Ryuju Kondo, while Kazakhstan’s Smetov took silver. Ma shared the bronze-medal podium with Uzbekistan’s Kuchkarov.

As the reigning 2025 National Games men’s 60kg champion making his first Asian Games appearance, Ma expressed mixed feelings about securing his debut international medal. “I wanted to do better, but I couldn’t quite reach it. Thanks to my coach for helping me improve my technique, and to everyone who encouraged me.”

China collected two additional bronze medals on the opening day of competition. In the women’s 52kg division, Xu Aoyu scored during extra time to defeat Mongolia’s Bayarmönkh Urantsetseg, sharing bronze with Japan’s Fujishiro Kokoro. In the men’s 66kg division, Xue Ziyang also prevailed in golden score against Kazakhstan’s Gusman Kyrgyzbayev to secure the third bronze for the delegation.