Olympic judo medalists Lee Joon-hwan, Huh Mimi chase Asian Games gold

A pair of Olympic judo medalists will each chase their first Asian Games gold medal on Thursday.

Lee Joon-hwan will compete in the men's -81 kilograms, and Huh Mimi will do so in the women's -57 kilograms on Day 2 of judo at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Aichi International Arena in Nagoya.

Lee is the 2024 Olympic bronze medalist in his weight class, while Huh, a Japanese native and a descendant of a Korean independence fighter, got silver in her division at the same Olympics.

Lee took silver at the previous Asian Games in 2023. This is Huh's first Asian Games appearance.

The taekwondo competition will begin Thursday with poomsae, a non-contact pattern-demonstration discipline of the traditional Korean martial art.

Yun Kyu-sung is considered a gold medal threat in the men's individual poomsae event at Toyohashi Gymnasium in Toyohashi, some 85 kilometers (53 miles) southeast of the main host city, Nagoya.

Elsewhere on Thursday, the men's field hockey team will play Malaysia in the semifinals at 7 p.m. at Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium in Gifu, just north of Nagoya.

Korea has not been to the men's field hockey final since winning gold in 2006 — having won two bronze medals over the next four editions of the Asian Games.

Yonhap