With less than two months to go before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Korean judo has had a string of upsets.

Team Korea's top-ranked men's heavyweight Ganpan Kim Min-jong (Yangpyeong-guncheong, No. 6 in the world) defeated Georgia's Guram Tushishvili in the men's 100-plus kg final at the 2024 International Judo Federation (IJF) World Judo Championships at the Mubadala Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Thursday (Feb. 24) to win gold.

This is the first time in six years that a South Korean man has won the World Judo Championships since Ahn Chang-rim (73kg) and Cho Gu-ham (100kg) won the title in 2018.

It was also the first time in 39 years that the men's heavyweight division at the World Championships had been won by a Korean judoka since Choi Soong-chul in 1985.

After defeating Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medalist Lukas Krpalek (CZE) in the semifinals with a half-moroguchi to reach the final, Kim took control of the bout against Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Tushishvili, drawing two fouls for disguised attacks and eventually winning the bout by submission with 20 seconds left in the match.

Kim's victory gives 스포츠토토 South Korean judo two individual gold medals at the World Championships.

Earlier, world No. 6 Heo Mi-mi (Kyungbuk Sports Federation) defeated world No. 1 Christa DeGucci (Canada) in the women's 57kg final to win the title.

After a dismal showing at the last two Olympic Games, South Korea's judo team has raised hopes for the upcoming Paris Games with the performances of Kim Min-jong and Heo Mimi.

Since becoming an Olympic favorite with two gold, two silver and one bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, South Korean judo has won gold at every Olympics except Sydney 2000 (silver2-bronze3) and London 2012.

However, the sport began its downward spiral in Rio 2016, when it finished with no gold (silver-2-bronze-1) for the first time in 16 years. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, they were also no gold (silver 1, bronze 2). Their performance in Tokyo was their lowest in 45 years since Montreal 1976.

South Korean judo, which has struggled in recent Olympics, will look to make a comeback at the upcoming Paris 2024 Games, led by Kim Min-jong and Heo Mi-mi, who won their first World Championship gold medals.

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