Nagoya, Oct 19 India’s visually-impaired judoka Kokila assured herself of a medal in the women’s J2 -52kg category after defeating China’s Yi Liu in the semifinals of the Asian Para Games here on Monday.
Kokila, who had won a -48kg bronze in the last edition in Hangzhou, secured the victory with a score of 1-0, registering one waza-ari (second highest technical score) and one yuko (score for effective technique) against her Chinese opponent, who managed one waza-ari.
The Indian judoka also received one shido penalty (minor rule infringement) during the contest at the Aichi Prefectural Martial Arts Hall
In the final, Kokila will face Kyrgyzstan’s Aibike Ulanbek Kyzy later in the day, with a gold medal at stake.
Kokila, who hails from Kasun village in Jind district of Haryana, was part of India’s campaign at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
J2 classification is for judokas with varying degrees of visual impairment.
In the men’s event, Kapil Parmar will fight for bronze in the J1 -70kg category after going down in the semifinal against Indonesia’s Junaedi 0-1.
He will be up against another Indonesian in Ahnaf Rafli Shidqi in the bronze playoff later in the day.
The J1 classification covers severe visual impairments ranging from total blindness to minimal light perception.
(PTI News)
