Japan threw some serious flies into the ointment, arriving without seeding but with pace and technique and determination. Unseeded, all of them, they took hold of the reigns placing one athlete after another into their respective finals.
All bar one of the top seeds went out early, leaving only Giulia Carna to respect the ranking. However, even she, an incumbent champion, fell at the foot of the Japanese, having to pack silver for her return flight, instead of the gold she came for. Such is life; even more so, such is judo.
The first four categories have been decided and at the end of this first day, Japan have asserted themselves as the world leaders, perhaps also throwing down the gauntlet for the team event in four days time. Italy follow Japan on the medal table but it is a big gap. Israel also tried hard with an excellent performance from Fiks at -66 kg who scored a first waza-ari in his final before succumbing to a well-times shime-waza, and Lavy at -52 kg. Azerbaijan’s new junior European champion at -60 kg, Imranov, also came close but eventually took silver too, again leaving the top step clear for Japan.
Despite the domination, there is still impressive diversity with Europe, Asia and Africa each taking medals. Here there must be special congratulations for Samy Youssry of Egypt who really hunted a medal and takes home a well deserved prize.
Day two now offers all delegations the extra challenge of stopping the Japanese from whitewashing the whole event! Keep up with all the action on at JudoTV.com. The second day begins at 10am local time.