Judoka Lee Joon-hwan wins bronze in men's -81 kilograms

Korean judoka Lee Joon-hwan won a bronze medal Tuesday at the Paris Olympics after beating Matthias Casse of Belgium in the men’s -81 kilogram bronze medal match, claiming a medal at his first Games

Korean judoka Lee Joon-hwan, right, competes in the men’s -81 kilogram bronze medal match at the Paris Olympics against Matthias Casse of Belgium at the Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris on Tuesday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Korean judoka Lee Joon-hwan won a bronze medal Tuesday at the Paris Olympics after beating Matthias Casse of Belgium in the men’s -81 kilogram bronze medal match, claiming a medal at his first Games and earning Korea’s first Olympic medal in the weight class in 12 years.

The match at the Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris went into golden score, a sudden-death overtime during which the first person to score an ippon or waza-ari becomes the winner.

Lee ended the contest with a waza-ari, taking the bronze over Casse, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist.

The Belgian judoka has also won a host of honors at every major competition with medals from the World Championships, European Games and European Championships.

Tato Grigalashvili of Georgia, who beat Lee in a close semifinals earlier Tuesday, was also a strong opponent with three gold medals from the World Championships under his belt.

Lee’s bronze is the first medal won by a Korean male judoka at this year’s Olympics. Female judoka Huh Mi-mi, who won a silver in the women’s 57-kilogram on Monday, is the only other Korean to medal in judo as of press time.

For Lee the medal means more than just sporting glory — it also gets him out of Korea's mandatory military service. Winning any Olympic medal is an automatic military service bye for male Korean athletes.

A total of 11 Korean judokas are competing at this year's Olympics. Judo runs through Saturday and the competition for each weight class spans a full day.

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