Japanese judokas largely dominated the last Grand Slam of the year, winning 13 of the competition’s 14 gold medals.
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The last day of the Tokyo Grand Slam closes the International Judo Federation (IFJ) World Tour for 2024!
In the Tokyo Metropolitan gymnasium, young fans were treated to a big surprise on Sunday: two of them had the unique opportunity to face Olympic champions Tsunoda Natsumi and Nagase Takanori!
Magnificent ippon in the -81 kg final
The Japanese Fujiwara Sotaro then opened this second day of competition in style, beating Timur Arbuzov in finale des –81 kg.
Vlad Marinescu, director general of the International Judo Federation, was present to present the medals.
Victory at the end of suspense for Mayu Honda
At –70 kg, Mayu Honda waited for the end of the golden score to win over her compatriot Utana Terada by ippon.
“I could hear the cheers and the voices of my fans, I was so happy that I was able to win and show my fans that I had won”declared the champion after her victory.
She received her medal from Olympic champion Kosei Inoue.
Fierce final in the -90 kg category
At –90 kg, an excellent waza-ari of Sanshiro Murao allowed him to win the title against the Georgian Luke Maisuradze.
“I am very happy to see the positive reactions from the fans”he declared. “Judo, as you know, was born in Japan and it is important that our judokas spread this wonderful sport to the rest of the world”.
Almaz Alsenov, CEO of Harvest Group, presented the gold medal to the champion.
Remarkable ground work in the -78 kg final
At –78 kg, Kurena Ikeda won with brilliant ground work against the South Korean Minju Kim.
The medals were presented by IJF Sports Director Skander Hachicha.
Victory by immobilization of Matvey Kanikovskiy
In the –100 kg category, Matvey Kanikovskiy managed to immobilize the Italian Gennaro Pirelli with an arm lock to capture the title in Tokyo!
The gold medal was presented to him by Sergey Soloveychik, president of the Russian Judo Federation.
Mao Arai impressive in +78 kg final
At +78 kg Mao Arai was imperial against Elis Startseva in the final.
ADVERTISEMENTThe champion received her medal from the hands of Silvio Acacio Borges, president of Brazilian Judo.
Kanta Nakano wins in the heavyweight category
Finally, among the +100 kg it is Song Nakano who imposed himself against Hyoga Ota with a magnificent Uchi-Mata!
The gold medal was presented to her by Shin Koyamada, CEO of the Guardian Girls International organization.
Japanese judokas therefore largely dominated the two days of the Tokyo Grand Slam, which marks the end of the 2024 season of the International Judo Federation.
ADVERTISEMENTSee you in 2025 for new memorable competitions in the world of judo!
