Ssireum athlete Kim Min-jae shows off versatility to win 3rd Cheonhajangsa title 작성일 11-30 20 목록 <div class="ab_photo photo_center ab_zoom"> <div class="image"> <span class="end_photo_org"><img src="https://imgnews.pstatic.net/image/640/2025/11/30/0000080916_001_20251130172912614.jpg" alt="" /><em class="img_desc">Kim Min-jae strikes a pose after winning the final at the 2025 Uiseong Cheonhajangsa Ssireum Festival in Uiseong, North Gyeongsang, on Nov. 29. [YONHAP] </em></span> <span class="mask"></span> </div> </div> <br> Kim Min-jae showcased his force as Korean ssireum’s dominant heavyweight once again after beating veteran Kim Jin 3-0 in the Uiseong Cheonhajangsa Ssireum Festival final on Saturday, a victory that underscored both his resilience through injuries and his evolution into a more versatile wrestler. <br> <br> Kim Min-jae competed at Uiseong Gymnasium in North Gyeongsang, lifting his third Cheonhajangsa title. Cheonhajangsa translates to the top "champion of champions" honor in <i>ssireum</i>, Korean traditional wrestling. He also won the title in 2022 and 2024. <br><br>The 140-kilogram division (308-pound division) wrestler, Kim Min-jae, continues a lineage of dominant heavyweights that includes Lee Man-ki, Kang Ho-dong and Lee Tae-hyun. <br> <br> Kim drew national attention in 2022 when he won his first Cheonhajangsa crown as a University of Ulsan student, becoming the first college athlete in 37 years to claim the title since Lee Man-ki. After moving full time into the ssireum circuit, Kim added titles in 2024 and 2025 and cemented himself as the sport’s most powerful rising star. <br> <br> Kim opened the season with an ambitious goal: to sweep every major ssireum competition and complete a perfect run across the roughly nine annual tournaments. <br> <br> He looked to start what he called the “Kim Min-jae era” and often repeated during interviews with media that he wanted to achieve a level no wrestler had reached before. <br> <br> The season quickly turned. A hamstring injury slowed him early, and after he returned, a back problem surfaced. <br> <br> <div class="ab_photo photo_center ab_zoom"> <div class="image"> <span class="end_photo_org"><img src="https://imgnews.pstatic.net/image/640/2025/11/30/0000080916_002_20251130172912846.jpg" alt="" /><em class="img_desc">Kim Min-jae strikes a pose after winning the Cheonhajangsa final at the 2025 Uiseong Cheonhajangsa Ssireum Festival in Uiseong, North Gyeongsang on Nov. 29. [YONHAP] </em></span> <span class="mask"></span> </div> </div> <br> His back — normally the anchor of the explosive strength behind his 780-kilogram combined squat, deadlift and bench press — made it difficult for him to overpower opponents. He skipped the Pyeongchang tournament in April and failed to reach the final at the Yuseong and Dano events in May. <br> <br> Kim won only three titles this season, but they were the three that mattered most: the Seollal Jangsa Tournament, the Chuseok Jangsa Tournament and the Cheonhajangsa Tournament. With three Cheonhajangsa crowns and 14 Baekdu titles, Kim now has 17 career championships. <br> <br> He has a chance to add one more this season. If he defends his Baekdu crown at the Mungyeong Omija Festival, which opens on Dec. 15, he will reach four wins this year and 18 overall. <br> <br> While he fell short of the perfect-season sweep he envisioned, this year still marked a turning point. <br> <br> Kim spent his early career charging directly at opponents, relying on sheer brute strength and rarely avoiding a head-on contest. But during the Chuseok Jangsa Tournament, when his back still felt unstable, he shifted tactics. He held back from initiating attacks and instead used his opponents’ force against them to win in a more measured style. <br> <br> “I was not fully recovered from my injuries, so I did not try to attack first,” he said then. “I really wanted to win, so I wrestled in a way that protected me." <br><br><i>This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.</i> 관련자료 이전 한국TV 세계1위 사수 … 中 도전 고민은 커져 11-30 다음 김영철, 日 명품 매장서 입장 거부당해…"큰돈 아꼈다" 고백 (오리지널) 11-30 댓글 0 등록된 댓글이 없습니다. 로그인한 회원만 댓글 등록이 가능합니다.
