Narrow loss denies Singapore’s Noah Lim Asian Games ju-jitsu bronze
Singaporean ju-jitsu exponent Noah Lim is seen during his Asian Games bronze medal match against Kazakhstan's Aldiyar Serik in Hangzhou on Oct 5, 2023. (Photo: Sport Singapore/Andy Chua)
HANGZHOU: Slim margins separated Singapore ju-jitsu fighter Noah Lim from an Asian Games medal on Thursday (Oct 5).
First came a loss by one advantage point to South Korea’s Joo Seonghyeon in the quarter-finals of the men’s under-69kg event, and then later in the day, a narrow 0-2 defeat at the hands of Kazakhstan’s Aldiyar Serik in the bronze medal match.
Lim won both of his matches prior to the contest with the South Korean, and then won his repechage bout to claw his way to a shot at bronze.
“I lost very narrowly in both matches to very tough opponents,” said Lim, who was making his Games debut.
“I know I definitely could have won the matches but the time was so short and I couldn’t capitalise when I had opportunities.”
At the Xiaoshan Linpu Gymnasium, the Singaporean, a second-year student at Nanyang Technological University’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, had hoped to strike gold.
“There are things to work on and I can improve from this,” he said.
Lim revealed that he was suffering from some side effects from a recent bout of asthma.
“I had the flu two weeks before, (and) after I recovered from that, suddenly I had asthma. So right now I feel a little breathless. It’s not an excuse … but it made it much more challenging because I couldn’t really train well,” he said.
“Even today I feel I was not on form in all of my matches. Even when I won, I wasn’t my normal self.”
Earlier this year, Lim won Singapore’s first gold of the 32nd SEA Games. He is a three-time SEA Games gold medalist after wins in 2019 and 2022.
