Jang Se-yun of South Korea competes against Sitora Kadamboyeva of Uzbekistan in the women's 52-kilogram judo final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]
Jang Se-yun of South Korea competes against Sitora Kadamboyeva of Uzbekistan in the women's 52-kilogram judo final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan, on Wednesday. [Yonhap]

Jang Se-yun, a 24-year-old judoka competing in the women's 52-kilogram category for KH Feelux, claimed a silver medal at her first Asian Games — South Korea's first judo medal of the tournament.

Jang lost by penalty in the final against Sitora Kadamboyeva of Uzbekistan on Wednesday at Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan, at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Ranked 41st in the world, Jang opened the day by pinning Sabira Kozomberdiyeva with an ippon just 16 seconds into their round-of-16 bout. In the quarterfinals, she found herself in trouble against China's Xu Xiaoyu after picking up two penalties, but rallied to score an ippon with 46 seconds remaining.

The semifinal against Japan's Fujishiro Kokoro stretched past six minutes including extra time, before Fujishiro received her third penalty for a feigned attack, sending Jang through to the final.

In the gold-medal match, Jang fell behind early, accumulating two penalties and facing elimination with one more. She fought back aggressively to level the penalty count at two apiece with 53 seconds left, but could not land a decisive technique.

The match went to overtime after four minutes of regulation produced no winner. At 1 minute 49 seconds of extra time, a video review ruled that Jang had grabbed her opponent's leg, earning her a third penalty and ending the contest.

[Yonhap]
[Yonhap]

Jang is a rising talent who has been building her international resume in recent years. She won silver at the 2023 Chengdu World University Games, took gold at last year's Rhine-Ruhr Grand Slam in Germany, and added a bronze at the Bangkok Asian Championships the same year.

Meanwhile, the day brought setbacks for South Korea's judo team before Jang's run. In the women's 48-kilogram category, Jeong Su-jin was eliminated without stepping on the mat after failing a random weigh-in on the day of competition by just 100 grams. In the men's 60-kilogram category, Lee Ha-rim lost by ippon in the round of 16 after briefly losing consciousness following a chokehold by his opponent.


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