World champion Naohisa Takato earns his eighth Grand Slam gold medal

Two-time and reigning world champion Takato Naohisa won the U60kg title to celebrate an eighth Grand Slam gold medal and to extend his winning streak to 18 contests. Takato faced former world silver medallist Dashdavaa Amartuvshin (MGL) in the final and both judoka were tentative as they accumulated two shidos apiece in regulation time.

Takato needed 56 seconds of golden score to seal victory when he took control of his opponent with te-waza and the in-form Mongolian was beaten by ippon as Japan’s men’s team were off and running in the final Grand Slam of 2017.

In the first semi-final Takato defeated defending Tokyo Grand Slam champion Nagayama Ryuju (JPN) by a waza-ari score to avenge his loss at the hands of his Tokai University teammate from a year ago.

Former world silver medallist Rustam Ibrayev (KAZ) lost out to fellow Worlds runner-up Dashdavaa in golden score. A second shido for the Kazakh separated the Asian rivals in added time to send Dashdavaa into the gold medal contest.  

The first bronze medal contest was won by two-time Grand Slam winner Shishime Toru (JPN) who defeated Ibrayev by a waza-ari which came after only 15 seconds from an o-uchi-gari.

The second bronze medal contest saw 2016 Tokyo Grand Slam bronze medallist Choi In Hyuk (KOR) lose in the last 30 seconds to Nagayama. Japan’s defending champion threw Choi with an ippon seoi-nage for the maximum score to the delight of the home crowd.

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