Judoka Kim Ji-su loses repechage to crash out of women's -63 kilograms

Korean judoka Kim Ji-su lost to Lubjana Piovesana of Austria in the women’s -63 kilogram repechage contest at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, ending her medal run in the individual event.

Korean judoka Kim Ji-su, right, reacts after losing to Lubjana Piovesana of Austria in the women’s -63 kilogram repechage contest at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday at the Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Korean judoka Kim Ji-su lost to Lubjana Piovesana of Austria in the women’s -63 kilogram repechage contest at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday, ending her medal run in the individual event.

Kim allowed an ippon — the highest score a judoka can achieve — to Piovesana at the Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris. Had Kim won Tuesday’s match, she would have reached a separate bronze-medal match.

In the Olympics, the losers of four quarterfinal matches compete in repechage matches, with the winners of those matches reaching separate bronze-medal matches. In the bronze-medal matches, the repechage winners face the semifinal losers. Two bronze medals are given in each weight category.

Kim, 23, failed to medal for a second straight Olympics. She also competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — but in a lighter weight category, placing ninth in the women’s 57-kilogram contest and ninth in the mixed team contest.

Kim still has another shot to stand on the podium this year, as she is set to compete in the mixed team event.

Fellow judoka Huh Mi-mi remains the only Korean to have won a medal in the sport as of press time Tuesday. She won silver in the women’s -57-kilogram competition to become the first Korean judoka to medal at the Olympics since 2016.

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