Highlights From the Preliminaries - Day 1

Current world champion Eteri Lipartleiani felt the full force of Japanese motivation in her quarter-final. She gripped powerfully, as always, but Omori (JPN) had solutions and threw Liparteliani twice, in quick succession.

Yuta Nakamura (JPN), already a Paris and Tokyo Grand Slam bronze medallist, threw Olympic silver medallist and 3rd seed Minjong Kim (KOR) with a beautiful tai-otoshi in the +100 kg category to send him to the repechage.

Number one seed at -48 kg Shirine Boukli (FRA) was stunned when Harada (JPN) threw her with a full-speed uchi-mata, rolling her right through her back and out of the competition. It was indisputable!

Inal Tasoev (RUS) a current and double world champion, an immense technician with an incredible feeling for ashi-waza in all directions, had a perfect morning and it looked like he would hold his seeding and deny the Japanese hunt but, in the end, he was dispatched like so many others. Hyoga Ota (JPN) had to wait until golden score to set-up a huge, spinning uchi-mata, one which produced a look of disappointed acceptance on the Russian judoka’s face. The bronze may still be available but Tasoev wasn’t in Tokyo for third place.

Current world champion and number one seed at -100 kg Matvey Kanikovskiy (RUS) looked ready for anything as he put Jedrzejewski (POL) under a cloud, throwing him with ko-uchi-gari and makikomi in under two minutes, not needing the rest of the allotted time. He used a tiny tomoe-nage to overcome Kotaro Ueoka (JPN) in the quarter-final and then had to face world and Olympic medallist Ilia Sulamanidze (GEO) for a place in the final.

Kanikovskiy hasn’t lost a single contest since March 2024 when he took silver against Turoboyev on the latter’s home turf. That all changed in Tokyo as the Georgian used a special sixth sense to counteract a strangely unbalanced attack from Kanikovskiy, scoring ippon with a sukeshi technique. The Russian judoka would fight for bronze not gold in Japan!

It wasn’t all about the surprises and the seeds who left early though. The stand-out Japanese judoka at -63 kg was herself the number one seed and so Kaju’s ascension to her category final was no surprise. It should be mentioned that being the favourite is no guarantee at all. Judo’s changing winds can be brutal but Kaju shielded herself from any possible disruption, being especially sharp in ne-waza and ensuring she would keep her unbeaten international record alive.

On the bottom half of the -48 kg draw, Wakana Koga was tearing through the field like a machine. It looks unlikely anyone will be able to overcome her commitment today, not even the aforementioned Harada.

Sanshiro Murao (JPN) and Uta Abe (JPN) each held their nerve to maintain their respective leads, Murao at -90 kg and Abe at -52 kg. They went to the final block without a hitch, undeterred by the strategy of any challenger.

Final block contests

-48kg:

Final - Sachiyo Yoshino (JPN) vs Wakana Koga (JPN)

Bronze medal contests - Chen-Hao Lin (TPE) vs Anudari Jamsran (MGL; Hikari Yoshioko (JPN) vs Mizuki Harada (JPN)

-52 kg:

Final - Uta Abe (JPN) vs Nanako Tsubone (JPN)

Bronze medal contests - Larissa Pimenta (BRA) vs Kokoro Fujishiro (JPN); Ariane Toro Soler (ESP) vs Kisumi Omori (JPN)

-57 kg:

Final - Akari Omori (JPN) vs Momo Tamaoki (JPN)

Bronze medal contests - Eteri Liparteliani (GEO) vs Sarah-Leonie Cysique (FRA); Irina Zueva (RUS) vs Mio Shirakane (JPN)

-63 kg:

Final - Haruka Kaju (JPN) vs Kirari Yamaguchi (JPN)

Bronze medal contests - Renata Zachova (CZE) vs Gili Sharir (ISR); Angelika Szymanska (POL) vs Narumi Tanioka (JPN)

-90 kg:

Final - Sanshiro Murao (JPN) vs Goki Tajima (JPN)

Bronze medal contests - Komei Kawabata (JPN) vs Minki Song (KOR); Giorgi Jabniashvili (GEO) vs Hidetoshi Tokumochi (JPN)

-100 kg:

Final - Ilia Sulamanidze (GEO) vs Dota Arai (JPN)

Bronze medal contests - Niiaz Bilalov (RUS) vs Ryotaru Masuchi (JPN); Iosif Simin (ISR) vs Matvey Kanikovskiy (RUS)

+100 kg:

Final - Hyoga Ota (JPN) vs Valerii Endovitskii (RUS)

Bronze medal contests - Kanta Nakano (JPN) vs Yuta Nakamura (JPN); Minjong Kim (KOR) vs Inal Tasoev (RUS)