Mashu Baker outsmarts opponents with gold

All Japan Championships winner BAKER Mashu (JPN) won the second Grand Slam gold medal of his fast-rising career as he showed his quality all day long. BAKER defeated Samsun Grand Prix winner Noel VAN T END (NED) in the -90kg final with a yuko from an ouchi-gari opening the scoring. Tokyo Grand Slam 2013 winner BAKER defiantly resisted a ko-uchi-gake attack and protected his advantage for top spot.

BAKER said: "This is the second time I have won a Grand Slam gold medal and I want to stay at this level. I won all my fights by ippon before the final which is important to me. Now my goal is to be seeded for the World Championships this year after being officially selected for the competition."

In the first semi-final Van 't End was in devastating form as he threw Zagreb Grand Prix bronze medallist Joakim Dvarby (SWE) twice for waza-ari inside 90 seconds to leave the Swede reeling. In the second semi-final BAKER beat Tashkent Grand Prix bronze medallist Walter Facente (ITA) after 99 seconds with an emphatic ko-soto-gake which sent the Italian out of the area with velocity.

The first bronze medal was awarded to Facente who saw off Zagreb Grand Prix silver medallist Aaron Hildebrand (GER) in just 55 seconds. The Italian started with a waza-ari fom an osoto-gari and immediately followed up with a kesa-gatame hold for 15 seconds and HILDEBRAND lost by wazari-awasette-ippon. The second bronze medal was captured by DVARBY who came from behind to triumph against Samsun Grand Prix runner-up Aleksandar KUKOLJ (SRB). DVARBY trailed to a yuko score and struggled to establish himself in the contest as he was penalised three times for gripping infringements. To his credit DVARBY kept his belief and toppled KUKOLJ with a tomoe-nage for ippon with nine seconds remaining.