Koo Bon-cheol wins Korea's first ju-jitsu gold in Hangzhou

Korea added two more medals in ju-jitsu at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Friday, with Koo Bon-cheol winning gold in the men’s -77 kilograms final and Park Jeong-hye taking bronze in the women’s -52 kilograms bronze-medal bout.

Korean ju-jitsu practitioner Koo Bon-cheol, right, competes in the men's -77 kilograms final against Munfaredi Ali Seena Ebrahim Abdulla of Bahrain at the Hangzhou Asian Games held at Xiaoshan Linpu Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China on Friday. [YONHAP]

Korea added two more medals in ju-jitsu at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Friday, with Koo Bon-cheol winning gold in the men’s -77 kilograms final and Park Jeong-hye taking bronze in the women’s -52 kilograms bronze-medal bout.

Koo took on Munfaredi Ali Seena Ebrahim Abdulla of Bahrain at the Xiaoshan Linpu Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China and won the bout by advantages.

Earlier, Park faced teammate Im Eon-ju in the all-Korean bronze-medal match and managed a 2-0 win.

In ju-jitsu, points are awarded depending on the action. Advantages are awarded when an athlete puts their opponent into a point-scoring position, such as a “sweep” or “knee on belly” but fails to keep it for the entire duration.

Friday’s two medals in ju-jitsu raised Korea’s medal count in the sport at this year’s Asiad to three — another bronze coming from Joo Seong-hyeon in the men’s -69 kilograms division on Thursday.

Ju-jitsu made its Asian Games debut in 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia where Korea won two medals in the sport. Korea’s Sung Ki-ra took gold in the women’s -62 kilograms contest and teammate Hwang Myeng-se took bronze in the men’s -94 kilograms division.

The ju-jitsu schedule will continue through Saturday, when the competition for defending gold-medalist Sung begins in the women’s -63 kilograms division.

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