Japan's Maeda Rin met China's Tang Jing in the women's -70 kg quarter-finals at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on 1 October. During the contest Tang Jing bit Maeda's left arm in ne-waza, and the referees ruled a hansoku-make against her after conferring. Maeda advanced to the semi-finals and went on to win the gold medal.

What happened

Japanese outlets described the quarter-final in detail. About a minute in the contest went to ne-waza and Maeda's arm was brought to Tang Jing's mouth, Daily Sports reported. Sports Hochi reported that Tang Jing did not let go: she kept biting Maeda's arm as the two became tangled and moved off the contest area, and the bite lasted more than 20 seconds until the referee called mate. After the call Maeda showed her arm to the referee; Daily Sports, Sports Hochi and THE DIGEST all reported a clear bite mark on it. THE DIGEST reported that Maeda appealed at once, and that the referees reviewed the footage before the head referee declared the hansoku-make.

The referees conferred and announced a hansoku-make against Tang Jing, which took effect immediately and gave Maeda the contest.

The ruling and the results

Under International Judo Federation rules biting is a serious infringement and the referees may disqualify the athlete by hansoku-make. Maeda went on to beat MUN Song Hui of North Korea by yuko in the semi-final and ASKHAT Azhar of Kazakhstan by two waza-ari in the final to take the women's -70 kg gold.

Tang Jing did not speak to the media after the quarter-final and did not appear for her repechage contest, giving India's TAKHELLAMBAM Inunganbi a walkover into the bronze-medal contest; TAKHELLAMBAM lost that contest to URAN-ULZII Anujin of Mongolia.

Earlier cases

Public records show earlier biting incidents in judo competition:

  • 4 February 2023, Grand Slam Paris, women's -52 kg first round: Kazakhstan's Aigerim Abilkadirova bit Belgium's Charline Van Snick during the contest, which Van Snick won. Abilkadirova later said on social media that she had signalled she was giving up, but her opponent continued to apply the armlock.
  • November 2013, Grand Slam Tokyo, women's -63 kg semi-final: Korea's JOUNG Da-woon bit Japan's ABE Kana on the hand; Abe won the contest and the category, and Joung took bronze (AFP Fact Check identified the footage and cited Yonhap).
  • In 2025, at a European youth judo competition, a Polish judoka bit his Spanish opponent's hand; the referees reviewed the video and disqualified him, giving the Spanish athlete the contest.

The International Judo Federation's rules classify biting as a serious infringement, and the referees may disqualify the athlete immediately by hansoku-make.

Sources