Gold for home favourite Toth closes successful IJF Budapest Grand Prix

Former world silver medallist Toth recorded a fifth Grand Prix win and his second in his homeland with a battling display to cap a successful three days of competition for the hosts.

The 2017 World Championships hosts opened their medal account on Friday with a superb bronze from Hedvig Karakas before rank outsider Frigyes Szabo took bronze in the -73kg competition on Saturday as Miklos Ungvari created a slice of history by taking gold at the age of 37.

The 4500-seater László Papp Sports Arena in Budapest was the venue for three days of judo action from Friday 10 to Sunday 12 August, which saw 371 men and 255 women compete what is the opening event of the 2020 Olympic Games qualification period.

The third and final day of competition was always set to have a strong focus on the inspirational figure of former world silver medallist Toth, especially in front of his home crowd.

The Hungarian is well-known for his entertaining contests and is always game for a toe-to-toe battle of wits, and typically he savoured every second in front of his home crowd as he negotiated his way through the field in the -90kg category.

Toth faced world bronze medallist Ushangi Margiani of Georgia in the gold medal contest and matched his 2017 win over the Georgian by clinching gold by a waza-ari score from a seoi-nage to act as the perfect send-off before next month’s World Judo Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan.

World champion Aaron Wolf of Japan showed no signs of being off the circuit for 12 months as he won gold in the -100kg competition, just as he did a year ago at his first World Championships.

Tokai University judoka Wolf, who was wearing his red backpatch for the first time, looked sharp in his comeback event and was ruthless with his ashi-waza which he used to setup the majority of his scores. Wolf went to a four-minute stalemate with Agadir Grand Prix bronze medallist Karl-Richard Frey of Germany as a period of golden score was summoned. After 13 additional seconds Wolf’s quick footwork countered his German adversary for ippon to complete a successful return to competition.

The men’s heavyweight crown went to Japan as Paris Grand Slam winner Kokoro Kageura eventually found a way to defeat European Championships bronze medallist Stephan Hegyi of Austria in golden score.

While the Japanese applied more and more pressure, Junior Worlds runner-up Hegyi stood firm and did not let the world number 12 through. However in golden score Kageura threw his young Austrian rival with a harai-makikomi for a waza-ari score and +100kg gold to claim Japan’s ninth gold medal of the weekend.

There was gold medal success and an all-Japanese final in the women’s 78kg competition as former world champion Mami Umeki won gold for the first time in her career.

A surprise winner of the World Championships in 2015 and runner-up at the Worlds last year, Umeki took the challenge to her compatriot and Ekaterinburg Grand Slam winner Rika Takayama with a string of convincing attacks. Umeki sealed her second Grand Prix title by countering an o-goshi attempt by breaking the balance of Takayama who went over for ippon.

Cuba’s Idalys Ortiz remains undefeated in 2018 after a vintage display which saw her take gold in the +78kg competition.

The three-time Olympic medallist showed why she is once again favourite for honours in Baku as she beat Tbilisi Grand Prix silver medallist Maryna Slutskaya of Belarus by a waza-ari in an exciting final. Having won the Pan American Championships in April, gold at London 2012 and silver at Rio 2016 and two world titles, the victory for 28-year-old Ortiz was her first IJF gold since 2016 and could not have come at a better time ahead of next month’s World Championships.