Ryutaro Araga claimed Japan's first and only medal in karate's kumite discipline at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday with a bronze in the men's over-75-kilogram division.
Araga won all his three pool-stage bouts to reach the semifinals and guarantee a medal, but lost 2-0 against Tareg Hamedi of Saudi Arabia at Nippon Budokan. Sajad Ganjzadeh of Iran beat Hamedi 4-0 in the final to win gold.
Contested in three-minute bouts, kumite has three weight classes for both men and women at the Olympics. Before Araga's semifinal appearance, Japan had five karateka all eliminated in the pool stage in the sport's games debut.
Araga, the 2016 world and five-time national champion, beat Gogita Arkania of Georgia 3-2, Daniyar Yuldashev of Kazakhstan 4-2 and Ugur Aktas of Turkey, the other bronze medalist, 5-3 in Pool A before coming unstuck against Hamedi.
After suffering a straight punch to the face early on, 30-year-old Araga failed to break through and took another punch to the face with 10 seconds to go.
A last-ditch head kick attempt, which could have given Araga three points if successful, also fell short.
"I tried to fight with a sense of pride after being chosen to represent Japan when karate, which originates in Japan, is making its first Olympic appearance," Araga said.
"I took to the mat thinking I can't have us (Japan team) leave without a medal here."
Ayumi Uekusa was in action earlier in the day in the women's over-61-kilogram class but bowed out after she suffered two defeats to open her competition before getting two wins back in her pool.
Feryal Abdelaziz of Egypt beat Iryna Zaretska of Azerbaijan 2-0 in the final, with Sofya Berultseva of Kazakhstan and Gong Li of China taking bronze medals.
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