Toru Shishime doubles his golden Grand Slam haul for Japan

Former Paris Grand Slam winner Shishime Toru of Japan was unmatched in Baku as he won U60kg gold to stand on top spot at a Grand Slam medal podium for the second time. Tashkent Grand Prix winner Mukhriddin Tilovov (UZB) was an unexpected finalist as he opposed the Japanese in a first time encounter.

World number 29 Shishime countered his opponent for a waza-ari and then added a waza-ari from an uchi-mata with 27 seconds left.

In the first semi-final world number 73 Gusman Kyrgyzbayev (KAZ) lost to world bronze medallist Shishime Toru (JPN) after receiving hansoku-make for a head dive. The Kazakh was a waza-ari down with 13 seconds left and received his marching orders for diving onto this head to evade landing on his back. In the second semi-final Tashkent Grand Prix winner Mukhriddin Tilovov (UZB) profited from Abu Dhabi Grand Prix silver medallist Eric Takabatake (BRA) receiving a third shido in golden score to be disqualified with hansoku-make.

The first bronze medal was won by number one seed Orkhan Safarov (AZE) - his fourth Grand Slam medal - by holding down Takabatake. The Azeri delivered for the home faithful as he took the lead with a waza-ari and pinned down the Brazilian with a mune-gatame and the pressure was so immense that Takabatake tapped out.

The second bronze medal was won by Madrid European Open silver medallist Yanislav Gerchev (BUL) from a gigantic ura-nage against Kyrgyzbayev after 66 seconds of golden score. That moment of magic was worth the wait for the Bulgarian who is finally off the mark on the IJF World Judo Tour.