By Julian Linden, OCA Media
Nagoya, Japan, September 30, 2026: On a day filled with surprises, Mongolian judoka Yolk Kazirbyek produced perhaps the biggest of the lot to win gold in the men’s half lightweight class (66kg) at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games on Wednesday.
Regarded as an outsider for the title, Kazirbyek beat Kazakhstan’s Gusman Kyrgyzbayev, the Paris Olympic bronze medallist, in the semi-finals then Uzbekistan’s Abdurakhim Nutfulloev in the final bout, securing victory by ippon.
Bahrain’s Sukhrob Boqiev and China’s Xue Ziyang won the bronze medals at the Aichi International Arena.
There was another upset in the women’s half lightweight (52kg) final when Uzbekistan's Sita Kadamboeva took the gold after Korea’s Jang Se-yun was disqualified during sudden-death overtime.
What had been a tight grapple until then was decided by hansoku-make, an automatic disqualification whenever a judoka receives three shidos over the course of the fight.
“I already had two yellow cards, and I touched her leg again. This is a foul in judo and I deserved the penalty,” Jang said.
“Of course, it’s a sad way to lose the match but I’m still glad to get the silver medal. I’m happy with my other performances today and I am happy to win silver. I’m disappointed with the final, but I will learn from this and I will continue to train and get stronger.”
Kadamboeva was over the moon with her victory on the tatami.
“It was a long wait for this gold medal. I still don’t believe that I won,” she said.
“I’m dedicating this first Asian Games gold medal to my son.
“I was not expecting the red card. I didn’t know that a foul had been committed, and it surprised me. I was prepared to keep fighting.
“Now that I’ve won gold here at the Asian Games, my goal is competing at the Olympic Games. Because of this win I believe I can do it.”
The bronze medals were won by China’s Xu Aoyu and Japan’s Kokoro Fujishiro, who was the pre-competition favourite but lost to Jang in a tight semi-final.
“I was aiming to win the gold, so naturally, I’m just really disappointed,” Fujishiro said.
“A lot of the coaches came up to me and said, ‘I know you’re really disappointed, but being able to reset here and finish strong will help you moving to the next step, and you can still grow from this.’ Hearing those words really helped me. My family must have been really disappointed, too, but I also received messages from my family and friends and I had so many fans supporting me on social media. Knowing all those people made me think, ‘I’ve got to finish this strong for them.'”
