Emotional Takato Naohisa back at highest stage

Takato Naohisa, was the strongest hope for the host country, to once again step on top of the podium. And Takato did not disappoint his public as he qualified for the final after having defeated the top seeded competitor Kim Won Jin (KOR) in the semi-final. In the final he met with the 2014 world silver medallist Beslan Mudranov (RUS).

World Champion in 2013, Takato, did not wait long before launching his first attack. Starting with a sode-tsuri-komi-goshi on one hand only, he changed direction in the middle of the movement, to throw his opponent for waza-ari in a pure Japanese style. The Japanese fighter again demonstrated his impressive technical skills later on during the fight, when he engaged his leg to propel Mudranov, with a o-uchi-gari for waza-ari-awasete-ippon. This victory offers a sixth Grand Slam title to Takato.

The first bronze medal fight opposed the London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist, Felipe Kitadai (BRA) and Shishime Toru (JPN). In judo every second counts, especially the closing seconds. Shishime applied this principle until the very last second of the match as he scored an outstanding uchi-mata, for ippon to win his fourth medal in a Grand Slam.

For the second bronze medal fight, Aoki Dai (JPN) qualified against Kim Won Jin (KOR) for a place on the podium. The first strong attack came from Aoki, who engaged a uchi-mata, but the Japanese was counterattacked by Kim for waza-ari. A few seconds later, after a session of ground work, where Kim was obviously looking for a shime-waza, the Korean concluded with a ippon and a fourth medal on the occasion of a grand slam.