Korean judoka An Ba-ul eliminated from Paris Olympics men's -66kg

Korean judoka An Ba-ul loses in the men’s -66kg elimination round at the Paris Olympics, ending his bid for a third consecutive Olympic medal.

Korean judoka An Ba-ul, right, reacts after losing to Gusman Kyrgyzbayev of Kazakhstanin the men’s -66 kilogram elimination round of 16 at the Paris Olympics on Sunday at Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris. [NEWS1]

Korean judoka An Ba-ul lost 1-0 to Gusman Kyrgyzbayev of Kazakhstan in the men’s -66 kilogram elimination round of 16 at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, ending his bid to secure a third straight Olympic medal.

An allowed a waza-ari — the second highest score a judoka can achieve — by Kyrgyzbayev at Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris and lost the contest.

An’s exit blows another chance for Korea to medal in judo at this year’s Olympics, where the country has yet to win a single medal in the sport.

A medal at this year’s Games would have been his third consecutive medal, having claimed a silver in 2016 and bronze in 2020 Olympics.

The 30-year-old veteran has also won a host of other honors on the international stage, including two medals from the Asian Games five medals from the world championships.

Over in the women’s competition, Huh Mi-mi and Yoon Hyun-ji are still in a medal race. Huh will compete in the women’s 57-kilogram round of 16 on Monday, followed by Yoon’s -78 kilogram round of 32 contest on Aug. 1.

A total of 11 Korean judokas compete in the Paris Olympics. Judo runs through Aug. 3 and the competition for each weight class spans a full day.

Korea won three medals — one silver and two bronze — at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

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