Highlights From the Day 2 Preliminaries

Matthias Casse (BEL) went down by a yuko against Yuhei Oino (JPN) in their quarter-final, a de-ashi-harai catching him at exactly the right moment just 24 seconds into the contest. The scoreline didn’t change further and Casse had to regroup ready for the repechage. In the pool above, Arbuzov (RUS) suffered at the hands of Hojo (JPN) who grappled his way to an ippon win, pushing the current world champion down into the same repechage contest.

Casse and Arbuzov both looked frustrated but fought a close, technical fight, the latter winning by a single yuko at full time. Casse therefore placed 7th in Tokyo while Arbuzov would have the chance to reach the podium, fighting for bronze in the final block later in the day.

Another big champion to take a hit was France’s world and Olympic medallist Romane Dicko. In her quarter-final, she faced Egypt’s junior world medallist Safa Soliman. Soliman had just defeated 6-time grand slam medallist Elis Startseva (RUS) but Dicko was confident coming into their contest. However, she attacked without sufficient preparation and Soliman was ready, transitioning into a shime-waza which she held until the ippon was earned. Dicko would go to the repechage and the junior African champion would go to the semi-final, guaranteeing her a grand slam final block for the first time; and what a way to do it!

Dicko had, before meeting Soliman, defeated Tokyo 2021 Olympic champion Akira Sone (JPN) in the first round to open the category up for everyone. It seems Soliman is now the biggest beneficiary.

Hifumi Abe almost suffered at the hands of Channyeong Kim (KOR) as he was thrown for a waza-ari with just over a minute to go in their -66 kg quarter-final. Not a judoka used to losing, Abe got back on his feet and went straight to work. He threw Kim to equalise and then held him down, a masterful comeback under difficult conditions. Abe was unbeaten for 6 years until this year’s world championships where he had to accept bronze.

Abe’s step into the final was anything but easy. Having managed to overcome Kim, his semi-final turned into a 13 minute marathon against Takeoka (JPN), an immensely entertaining one. A sasae-tsuri-komi-ashi gave him the win though and he could breathe for a few hours and prepare to fight a tough final under the gaze and cheers of the crowd.

Not able to make a comeback like his teammate, world champion Nagayama was also thrown in his -60 kg quarter-final by Harim Lee (KOR) but as they were already in golden score, that would be the only throw of the match. Nagayama would have to fight former world number one Yung Wei Yang (TPE) to make it to the final block.

An anomaly in reverse was in play in the -70 kg category as only one of the 4 Japanese judoka entered made it to the semi-final stage. Shiho Tanaka, the current world champion, made her way through the draw safely but Mayu Honda fell early while Ike and Maeda had to fight each other in the repechage, meaning that only two of the Japanese cohort would compete in the final block. Sobierajska (POL), Taimazova (RUS) and Tsunoda Roustant (ESP) were the architects of victory, each beating one member of the Japanese team, at one stage or another.

It was a morning full of drama, a showcase of skill and fast thinking. No doubt the final block will bring yet more incredible judo; we can't wait!

-60 kg:

Final - Hayato Kondo (JPN) vs Taiki Nakamura (JPN)

Bronze medal contests - Romain Valadier-Picard (FRA) vs Harim Lee (KOR); Ryuju Nagayama (JPN) vs Luka Mkheidze (FRA)

-66 kg:

Final - Hifumi Abe (JPN) vs Kairi Kentoku (JPN)

Bronze medal contests - Channyeong Kim (KOR) vs Shinsei Hattori (JPN); Obid Dzhebov (TJK) vs Takeshi Takeoka (JPN)

-73 kg:

Final - Keito Kihara (JPN) vs Ryuga Tanaka (JPN)

Bronze medal contests - Uranbayar Odgerel (MGL) vs Yudai Tanaka (JPN); Lasha Shavdatuashvili (GEO) vs Shusuke Uchimura (JPN)

-81 kg:

Final - Yuhei Oino (JPN) vs Sotaro Fujiwara (JPN)

Bronze medal contests - Timur Arbuzov (RUS) vs Kaito Amano (JPN); Zaur Dvalashvili (GEO) vs Yoshito Hojo (JPN)

-70 kg:

Final - Madina Taimazova (RUS) vs Shiho Tanaka (JPN)

Bronze medal contests - Rin Mada (JPN) vs Katarzyna Sobierajska (POL); Irenę Pedrotti (ITA) vs Ai Tsunoda Roustant (ESP)

-78 kg:

Final - Patricia Sampaio (POR) vs Kurena Ikeda (JPN)

Bronze medal contests - Shu Huei Hsu Wang (TPE) vs Mami Umeki (JPN); Inbar Lanir (ISR) vs Mao Izumi (JPN)

+78 kg:

Final - Hyeonji Lee (KOR) vs Hayun Kim (KOR)

Bronze medal contests - Wakaba Tomita (JPN) vs Safa Soliman (EGY); Romane Dicko (FRA) vs Mao Arai (JPN)