Judoka Kim Woo-jin ends Olympics individual contest with repechage loss

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.

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.

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]