Seven golds for Japan at IJF 2018 World Judo Masters in Guangzhou

The Japanese had a memorable two days of competition and finished at the top of the table with a medal haul of seven gold, three silver and four bronze. Georgia were placed second with two gold, one silver and two bronze, with five other countries Russia, France, Kosovo, Azerbaijan and Spain – also winning gold in China.

Running across 15 and 16 December, around 230 judoka from 53 nations spread across five continents made their way for the flagship event on the IJF calendar which was hosted by the China Judo Association for the first time. Of those competitors, the top 16-world ranked judoka in each weight category were invited to compete in southern China.

Sunday’s final day of action saw Georgia’s Guram Tushishvili underline his superiority in the men’s heavyweight category by winning his second World Judo Masters crown. The World champion took out the +100kg title after a dominant display over double Olympic bronze medallist Rafael Silva of Brazil.

There was further Georgian success in the -100kg category as Olympic and World silver medallist Varlam Liparteliani successfully defended his Masters title. His opponent, the world bronze medallist Otgonbaatar Lkhagvasuren of Mongolia was unable to contest the final due to an injury and so the world number one was awarded the win.

The -90kg Final was an intriguing encounter which saw World champion Nikoloz Sherazadishvili of Spain beats nemesis Krisztian Toth of Hungary. Former world silver medallist Toth has long been a bogey man of the Spaniard but it was the latter who triumphed at the World Judo Masters for the first time with two waza-ari scores going unanswered.

In the -81kg Final, World Judo Masters newcomer Takeshi Sasaki of Japan won his second IJF gold by defeating Aslan Lappinagov of Russia. The world number 13 defeated the world number seven as the Russian, the European Championships bronze medallist, had to settle for silver for the second year in a row at the Masters.

In the women’s competitions on Sunday, Japan’s Akira Sone defeated world silver medallist Idalys Ortiz of Cuba to win her first major title on the IJF World Judo Tour. Sone is only 18, but showed no fear as she went up against arguably the most decorated female heavyweight in the sport and the 29-year-old Cuban struggled under the immense degree of pressure from the Japanese teen.

There was an all-Japanese Final in the -78kg category as former world champion Mami Umeki took gold. The World number 10 and former owner of the red backpatch was the last Japanese judoka standing on Sunday evening. As she held down Osaka Grand Slam winner and compatriot Ruika Sato for 20 seconds to arguably propel her to pole position in the ever-changing battle for Japan’s one spot at Tokyo 2020 in the -78kg category. Great Britain’s Natalie Powell defeated European champion Madeleine Malonga to win bronze. It was the 28-year-old Welsh judoka’s third Masters medal, after a silver in 2015 and a bronze in 2016.

It was a case of a Japanese youngster beating a Colombian legend for gold in the -70kg Final as Japan’s Saki Niizoe defeated double Olympic medallist and three-time world champion Yuri Alvear of Colombia for the second time this year to earn the best result of her young career.

The IJF World Judo Tour 2019 will open in Israel with the inaugural Tel Aviv Grand Prix from 24 to 26 January 2019.