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Shohei Ono wins Asian Games title after victory vs An

Shohei Ono wins Asian Games title after victory vs An

30 Aug 2018 14:15
Mongolian JudoHeroes

At the second day of the Asian Games in Jakarta, Shohei Ono was crowned Asian Games champion. Ono who was not selected for the World Championships in Baku ruled the category U73kg and defeated double World Championships medallist An Chang-Rim in the final. An got penalised after 7 minutes in the golden score.

It was an amazing fight and both fighters were equal but after 6 minutes 46 seconds Ono launched a weak uchi-mata, An landed definitely didn't land on his side but wa slater awarded to wazari. Watch the last seconds of the fight with slomo in the video below.

In the semi final Ono bested Victor Scvortov (UAE) who won the bronze medal.Ono wasn’t the only Japanese to win Asian Games gold. 2014 World Junior Champion Momo Tamaoki won gold U57kg. She bested Kim Jin A in the final. The North Korean defeated World Champion Sumiya Sorjsuren in the quarter final, but Dorjsuren came back in the repechage and won bronze afterall. 2015 World Junior Champion Nami Nabekura took the victory U63kg against Kiyomi Watanabe of the Philipines. U70kg Niizoe Saki captured gold after she overcame Korean Kim SeongYeon. World Number one Saeid Mollaei of Iran was defeated in the final U81kg by Didar Khamza of Kazakhstan. Both Korea and Japan didn’t win a medal in this category.

The position of Japan has now turned and the home of judo is now leading at the Asian Games with 5 gold medals, followed by Korea with Wednesday’s two titles.

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“The technique that I have been practicing fit in,” said Tamaoki. “This shows that my efforts do not lie. I wanted to use the technique at some stage and the timing came in the final. My body was automatically moving to nail it.

“The Asian Games is not my goal, so I hope to win the next tournament so that I can make an attempt at the Tokyo Olympics.”

Nami Nabekura kept the good times rolling for Japan in the women’s 63-kg event, beating half-Japanese and Japan-based Filipino Kiyomi Watanabe in the final by ippon.

“I thought the only option for me was to win. It may have been a rough match but I was able to fight through and it was a good result,” Nabekura said.

Saki Niizoe defeated South Korea’s Kim Seong-yeon by waza-ari in the women’s 70-kg event.

“I knew the opponent was strong and would likely be a long bout,” Niizoe said of her four-minute encounter. “But it is a confidence boost that I won it without losing stamina.

“Because my previous two compatriots won gold, I felt pressure that I had to follow. But in the end, I thought I can win if I just fight my fight.”

The lone Japanese to emerge without a win on Thursday night was Takeshi Sasaki, who lost his men’s 81-kg bronze medal bout to Vladimir Zololev of Kyrgyzstan.

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