Judoka Kim Woo-jin ends Olympics individual contest with repechage loss
![Korean judoka Kim Won-jin, right, competes in the men’s -60 kilogram repechage contest against Sardalashvili Giorgi of Georgia at the Paris Olympics at Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris on Saturday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/07/28/9dbda903-e50a-48a1-99b6-01e9489a9d23.jpg)
Korean judoka Kim Won-jin, right, competes in the men’s -60 kilogram repechage contest against Sardalashvili Giorgi of Georgia at the Paris Olympics at Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris on Saturday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
Judoka Kim Won-jin's last hope of winning a bronze medal in the men’s -60 kilogram competition at the Paris Olympics ended Saturday with a 10-0 loss to Giorgi Sardalashvili of Georgia in a repechage contest on Saturday.
Kim went in action at Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris after a quarterfinal loss to France’s Luka Mkheidze earlier in the day.
Had Kim won the repechage contest, he would have advanced to a separate bronze-medal match.
In the Olympics, the losers of four quarterfinal matches compete in repechage matches, with winners of the two repechage matches reaching separate bronze-medal matches. In the bronze-medal matches, the repechage winners face one of the semifinal losers. Two bronze medals are given in each weight category.
Kim, 32, still has a chance to medal in this year’s Games, as he is set to compete in a mixed team contest.
He has yet to win an Olympic medal in his career, although he claimed a bronze at the 2014 Asian Games and multiple medals at other international tournaments.
His medal hunt at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics ended after losing the bronze-medal match.
Eleven judokas, five men and six women, are representing Korea at the Paris Olympics. Judo runs through Aug. 3 and the competition for each weight class spans a full day.
BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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