Takanori Nagase on course for Tokyo Olympic Games

Olympic bronze medallist Nagase Takanori (JPN) stepped up his bid for Tokyo 2020 selection by winning his fifth Grand Slam title with a win over former world bronze medallist Vedat Albayrak (TUR) in Brasilia.

Former world champion Nagase has double world silver medallist Fujiwara Sotaro and World Judo Masters winner Sasaki Takeshi to contend with at home but did his part today as he maintained his imperious Grand Slam record with nine medals from nine Grand Slam outings. The Japanese judoka will storm up the rankings from his lowly position of number 27 in the world after Albayrak was penalised for a third time for passivity after 56 seconds of golden score.

In the first semi-final Albayrak bested world number 17 Anri Egutidze (POR) by ippon while in the second semi-final Nagase defeated Antalya Grand Prix silver medallist Christian Parlati (ITA) by ippon with a ko-soto-gari.

The first bronze medal was won by five-time Grand Prix winner Alan Khubetsov (RUS) who had to put in a shift to emerge triumphant against Parlati. Khubetsov won courtesy of a waza-ari score to win his seventh medal on the Grand Slam stage and send Parlati back to the drawing board.

The second bronze medal went to Egutidze who ambushed Olympic champion Khasan Khalmurzaev (RUS) five seconds into golden score with a gigantic ura-nage for ippon. The Portuguese judoka thumped his chest and jumped into the arms of his coach in celebration as he savoured opening his Grand Slam medal account in style.