Japan finished day one top of the medal table with three gold and three bronze ahead of Russia who won one gold, two silver and three bronze medals with Mongolia third with one gold and two bronze medals.
Olympic champion Paula PARETO, who will be an Athlete Role Model at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games in October, started her 2018 with a silver medal in Ekaterinburg. PARETO, who a decade ago was a Beijing 2008 Olympic bronze medallist, 32, won her first two contests before coming undone in the final against former World Judo Masters winner ENDO Hiromi (JPN).
PARETO lost on shido penalties and accepted the decision after not performing to her usual high stands in the final. The -48kg judoka, who was congratulated by FC Barcelona and Argentina icon Lionel MESSI when she won the Rio 2016 Games, will have to increase the volume of her competitions this year with the Pan American Championships in Costa Rica and the Worlds in Baku, Azerbaijan being the key events for the South American stalwart.
The men’s lightest Olympic champion Beslan MUDRANOV (RUS) won his first medal since winning the Games as the 31-year-old won -60kg bronze. The gold backpatch of MUDRANOV was prominently displayed throughout the day as the home judoka recovered from defeat at the hands of OSHIMA Yuma (JPN) to win his next two contests.Former European champion Walide KHYAR (FRA) could not impose himself against the clever Russian who led the Frenchman towards receiving his third shido to seal a home bronze medal.
Olympic champs Fabio BASILE (ITA) talked up his chances of victory this morning when he told the IJF commentary team to look out for him in the final and the confident Italian came close but ultimately settled for bronze. BASILE, 23, who moved up to -73kg in October, had a spring in his step today that had been missing since his unforgettable day in Rio de Janeiro.
The Italian chalked up three wins by ippon before falling to Ferdinand KARAPETIAN (ARM) in the semi-final by the maximum score. BASILE bested top seed Zhansay SMAGULOV (KAZ) to claim his first medal since the Olympics and now should be off and away in his new permanent home of -73kg.
World champion ABE Hifumi (JPN) won his seventh event in a row and retained another clean sheet. His unbeaten run dates back to 2015 and that was also when an opponent last scored on the Japanese prodigy who became the poster boy for Tokyo 2020 after winning the Youth Olympics in 2014. ABE, 20, defeated The Hague Grand Prix silver medallist Yakub SHAMILOV (RUS)by a waza-ari score for gold as the audience was treated to another masterclass from Japan’s most prolific medallist.
World champion DORJSUREN Sumiya (MGL), the second champion wearing a red backpatch today, lost to TAMAOKI Momo (JPN) in the semi-final by a waza-ari. The -57kg ace, who was supported in numbers by the Mongolian faithful who were in fine voice, responded with two wins by ippon including in her bronze medal contest against Düsseldorf Grand Slam silver medallist KARAKAS Hedvig (HUN). An ippon seoi-nage was the difference in golden score as DORJSUREN showed her character to salvage a place on the podium. The Mongolian remains the world number one and has now medalled at her last five IJF events.
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