KB News Desk
South Korean wrestler Lee Seung-chan lost his very first Olympic match in Paris on Monday.
Lee fell to Mijain Lopez of Cuba, the four-time defending champion, by 7-0 in the round of 16 in the men’s 130-kilogram Greco-Roman event at Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris.
Lee couldn’t get much going against the Cuban veteran, who is chasing his fifth consecutive gold medal in the heaviest Greco-Roman weight division at age 41.
Lee is one of only two South Korean male wrestlers in Paris, alongside Kim Seung-jun in the men’s 97kg Greco-Roman event.
Lee will still have an opportunity to win a bronze medal through the repechage round on Tuesday. After Lopez advanced to the final, Lee was placed in one of two repechage matches against Amin Mirzazadeh of Iran, who lost to Lopez in the quarterfinals.
The winner of the Lee-Mirzazadeh match will face Sabah Shariati of Azerbaijan in the bronze medal match. Shariati lost to Lopez in the semifinals.
South Korea failed to win a medal in wrestling at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the first time the country was shut out in the sport since 1972. (Yonhap)
