Francisco Garrigos and Luka Mkheidze convince U60kg

The men’s U60kg category on the first day of the Olympic Games saw a series of surprising and intense matches, filled with unexpected wins and dramatic finishes. Francisco Garrigos and Luka Mkheidze are on course of the final with convincing judo so far. Salih Yildiz of Turkiye was the major surprise with his quarter final victory over world champion Sardalashvili who will still have his spot in the repechage just like Nagayama who passed out and we just hope for him that he can continue and not be out of competition.

Yeldos Smetov of Kazakhstan kicked off the surprises by advancing to the next round with a hansoku-make victory over Tornike Tsjakadoea from the Netherlands his opponent for bronze in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympic Games. South Korea's Kim Won-jin also moved forward after defeating Simon Zulu of Zambia through a hansoku-make.

In a grueling battle against Andrea Carlino of Italy, Yang Yung Wei of Chinese Taipei showcased his resilience. Down by a waza-ari, Yang managed to even the score with a 19-second sankaku hold-down. The match went into Golden Score, where Yang's relentless pressure eventually led Carlino to a third shido. Yang then secured the win by pinning Carlino with another sankaku hold-down.

Smetov continued his impressive run by defeating Dilshot Khalmatov of Ukraine with a counter for waza-ari. Meanwhile, Francisco Garrigos of Spain overcame his opponent Verstraeten with a side sacrifice throw.

Japan's Ryuju Nagayama faced a tough challenge against Michel Augusto of Brazil, eventually securing a hansoku-make win deep into Golden Score. Georgian judoka Giorgi Sardalashvili triumphed over Yam Wolczak of Israel, who was disqualified for head diving.

In a spectacular fashion, Luka Mkheidze of France defeated Ariunbold Enkhtaivan of Mongolia. Mkheidze threw his opponent with a sumi-gaeshi into kouchi-makikomi and finished with an uchimata off the ground for waza-ari-awasete-ippon.

Kim Won-jin then proceeded to defeat Balabay Aghayev of Azerbaijan through hansoku-make, while Smetov edged out Yang Yung Wei with an uchimata off the ground, scoring waza-ari, which was sufficient for victory.

A controversial match between Garrigos and Nagayama ended with Garrigos being awarded ippon after Nagayama passed out due to a strangle. It was unclear whether Nagayama lost consciousness before or after the referee called "matte."

In another major upset, Salih Yildiz of Turkey defeated top favorite Sardalashvili by pinning him deep into Golden Score, after a hard-fought match.

Finally, Mkheidze secured a win over Kim Won-jin with an ura-nage, scoring waza-ari, which was enough to advance him further in the competition.

As the tournament progresses, the unexpected victories and close calls have set a thrilling tone for the rest of the judo competition.