TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan's Olympic judo star Yang Yung-wei (楊勇緯) fought his way into the gold medal match on Friday (April 25) at the prestigious Asian Judo Championships currently underway in Bangkok. The world's third-ranked competitor in his weight class will square off against Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura (中村太樹) for the championship title later tonight. This tournament marks Yang's competitive return after a nine-month absence since his disappointing quarterfinal elimination at the Paris Olympics.
The Taiwanese athlete's path to the championship bout began with an automatic first-round advancement in the men's 60 kg division. Yang then dispatched his North Korean challenger in the round of 16 with a technique known as "minor inner reap," scoring a "yuko" point. His quarterfinal match against Bahrain's teenage competitor Ruslan Poltoratskii proved more challenging, extending into overtime. Yang ultimately prevailed when his 19-year-old opponent received a third penalty (shido), resulting in automatic disqualification.
Yang's semifinal contest against Kazakhstan's Sherzod Davlatov similarly required overtime after his opponent incurred a penalty with just 14 seconds remaining in regulation time. The Taiwanese judoka clinched victory with judo's highest-scoring move, an "ippon," executing a triangle hold technique called "sankaku-gatame." This victory sets up a rematch of last year's final against Nakamura, where Yang settled for silver. In related competition, Taiwan's Lin Chen-hao (林真豪) triumphed in the women's 48 kg repechage round, securing her opportunity to compete for bronze. ★