HANGZHOU. – The national judo team got off to a flat start as Leah Jhane Lopez and Shugen Nakano bombed out in the preliminaries of the 19th Asian Games on Sunday at the Xiaoshan Linpu Gymnasium here.
Lopez, 23, fell prey to second seed Abiba Abuzhakynova of Kazakhstan via Waza-ari in the Round of 16 of the women’s minus 48kg category while Nakano surrendered to Ryoma Tanaka of Japan via Ippon in the Round of 16 of the men’s minus 66kg event.
Nakano, 26, a gold medalist in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi and silver medalist in the next edition in Phnom Penh, sizzled early when he downed 21-year-old Saoud Alamiri of Kuwait via Ippon in the Round of 32.
But he failed to sustain his momentum as the younger, more aggressive Tanaka, the fourth seed, displayed his impressive form en route to the victory that was completed in just three minutes and five seconds.
“These athletes played really well. Unfortunately, they were paired against top seeds,” Philippine Judo Federation Secretary General Dave Carter said.
