Japan's women staved off South Korea in a heated battle to win the inaugural judo team event at the Asian Games on Tuesday night.

South Korean men took to the mat first against Kazakhstan and had to rally on the way to a 4-1 rout to snatch the gold in the men's event, but the Japanese women played spoiler to deny the host nation a double on the final day of competition in front of a packed house at Dowon Gymnasium.

In the final, Japan had to scrap after falling behind when Misato Nakamura, the 52-kg defending champion here, lost by ippon to Jung Eun-jung.