SINGAPORE- After an ankle injury ruled her out of the 2013 SEA Games, a fully-recovered Ang Xuan Yi found redemption this time on home soil, bettering her previous two bronze medals in 2009 and 2011 to win her first SEA Games silver medal on home soil.
She contested in the women's 52-57kg final against 2013 bronze medallist Pandini Ni Kadek and grappled hard in a tight contest, but eventually lost to an ippon by her Indonesian opponent.
Ang had earlier scored a huge victory over 2013 SEA Games silver medalist Jenielou Mosqueda of the Philippines in the semi-finals, winning by ippon in a tense contest.
Gary Chow, Singapore's silver medalist in 2013, suffered a surprise defeat to Vietnam's Bui Minh Quan in the men's 73-81 kg category quarter-finals.
Chow however recovered to beat Malaysia's Ooi Aik Tong in the repechage round before taking out Filipino Kodo Nakano with an emphatic ippon to clinch his bronze medal.
Local debutants Tan Yee Chin (women's -52kg), Lee You Ren (men's -66kg) and Walter Soh (66-73kg) all made early exits at the hands of Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese opponents respectively.
While all three judokas were eligible for the repechage round, Soh was the only one to make it through, beating Aung That Wai of Myanmar before losing to Malaysia's Chong Wei Fu to finish fifth.
Meanwhile, there was a shock exit for reigning 66-73 kg champion Gilbert Ramirez of the Philippines where he lost to Thailand's Masayuki Terada in the quarter-finals by ippon. Terada later advanced to the final, where he beat Iksan Apriyadi of Indonesia by ippon to claim his first ever gold medal.