Kwon Jae-deog wins Korea's first-ever kurash medal

Kwon Jae-deog won Korea’s first-ever Asian Games medal in kurash on Saturday after a 10-0 loss to Shturbabin Artyom of Uzbekistan in the men -66 kilogram semifinal.

Kwon took on Artyom at Xiaoshan Linpu Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China and earned bronze despite the loss, as losers in the semifinals win an automatic bronze.

He defeated Keshav Keshav of India 10-0 in the round of 16 and Kurbanov Shamuhammet of Turkmenistan in the quarterfinals earlier in the day.

Kurash is a form of upright jacket wrestling native to Uzbekistan and became an official sport at the 2018 Asian Games. It is similar to judo, but a player cannot grab the opponent’s legs or pants.

Korea is guaranteed one more medal in kurash, as Jeong Jun-young reached the men +90kg semifinal that is set to take place later in the afternoon on Saturday.

Korea competed in kurash at the 2018 Asiad but failed to secure a medal, while Uzbekistan secured the most medals at the 2018 Games, with 11.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]