THE DIGEST Editorial Department
On September 24, Natsumi Tsunoda of Japan won the gold medal in the women’s 48-kilogram judo event at the 19th Asian Games being held in Hangzhou, China. She became the first Japanese athlete to win a gold medal at the Games, but an unexpected incident occurred in the match that preceded the final. Lee Hye Kyung of Korea and Aviva Abujakinova of Kazakhstan met in the semifinals. The former repeatedly engaged in unsportsmanlike conduct and lost by a single point, but the player, who was not satisfied with the result, remained on the tatami after the match and showed her dissatisfaction.
The match was temporarily halted after 1:30 when Lee’s right hand entered Abujakinova’s jaw while they were fighting for a kumite. Lee apologized to Abujakinova, who was in pain. The match continued, but when the fight went into overtime, the two fighters fought again in a fierce hand-to-hand struggle, and Lee again struck Abujakinova on the left cheek in the same manner. After a brief pause, Lee was given a third instruction for unsportsmanlike conduct and lost by ippon.
Abujakinova, who was bleeding painfully under her left eye, asked her opponent Lee to shake her hand after the match, and Lee stood there looking unconvinced. The coach also loudly expressed his dissatisfaction, and finally Lee sat down to protest, but was finally urged by the referee to step down from the tatami mat.
This series of events was reported by several media outlets, including the host country’s Sina News and Hong Kong’s English-language South China MorningPost, as “Kazakhstani competitor wins outright due to unsportsmanlike conduct,” and “Korean judoka loses after slapping opponent. The local Chinese netizens commented, “This is a very good thing. Local Chinese netizens commented, “This is so despicable,” “What the hell kind of competition is this? What in the world is this?” “Dirty, very dirty! Is that normal in Korea? Is that normal in Korea?
