Kye Sun-hu, stepping up one category to the 57kg lightweight slot, dumped Sydney Olympic champion Isabel Fernandez of Spain with a perfect throw to book a semifinal berth against Deborah Gravenstijn of the Netherlands yesterday.
Ri Sang-sim, 23, participating in her first senior international competition, floored another Dutch hopeful, Natascha Van Gurp, with a classic uchimata inside-thigh throw in the women's 52kg featherweight quarter-finals.
Ri was set to battle 29-year-old veteran Cuban Amarilis Savon, who has a collection of silver and bronze world and Olympic medals in the lighter 48kg bantamweight, in the semifinals.
PHOTO: AP
The 25-year-old Kye came out of nowhere to win the bantamweight gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics by beating long-reigning world champion Ryoko Tamura of Japan.
She settled for bronze at the 2000 Sydney Olympics after moving up to the 52kg featherweight class and added the world title to her medal collection at the 2001 championships in Munich.
Japan, with four gold medals halfway through the four-day championships, had another lackluster day with only featherweight Yuki Yokozawa reaching the semi-final stage.
Yokozawa, fifth in Munich, was to face European champion Annabella Euranie of France in the last four round. Reigning featherweight champion Yurisleidis Lupetey of Cuba stopped Noriko Mogi in the quarterfinals South Korea's Lee Won-Hee beat Yusuke Kanamaru, the silver medallist in Munich, with a body drop in the men's 73kg lightweight quarterfinals.
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