The Crown Prince of Morocco was among those present as Teddy Riner was awarded gold in Rabat ©IJF

Teddy Riner put his injury troubles behind and extended his remarkable winning heavyweight streak at the World Judo Masters in Rabat on a day where many of the biggest names in the sport tasted victory.

Riner, France's reigning Olympic and seven-time world champion, produced an extraordinary o-sato-gari for an ippon in a semi-final against Japan's Ryu Shichinohe, a rematch of last year's World Championship final in Chelyabinsk.

In the final this time around, the 26-year-old took on experienced Hungarian Barna Bor, winner of a silver medal at both the 2011 and 2012 European Championships.

But, as in the 2011 European final, Riner was far too strong, with Bor conceding three shido pendalties before Riner produced a gold-medal winning ippon. 

Shichinohe and The Netherlands' Roy Meyer earned the two bronze medals.

Two-time reigning European champion Kim Polling ensured more Dutch success after getting better of France's former world champion Gevrise Emane and Bernadette Graf of Austria in the under 70kg category before overpowering Colombia's current world champion, Yuri Alvear, in the final.

There was some French presence on the podium as Fanny Estelle Posvite took bronze, along with Chizuru Arai of Japan.

United States' Olympic champion Kayla Harrison was an unsurprising winner in the under 78kg division and, as she did at London 2012, it was a British opponent who was vanquished in the final, albeit Natalie Powell on this occasion rather than Gemma Gibbons. 

Kayla Harrison was a dominant winner at the World Judo Masters
American Kayla Harrison was a dominant winner at the World Judo Masters ©IJF

Powell, who had earlier beaten eventual bronze medallist Audrey Tcheumeo, became the first ever Briton to win a World Masters medal, while the other bronze was taken by Luise Malzahn of Germany.

Yu Song of China won gold in the heaviest female over 78kg category, beating Asian rival Kanae Yamabe of Japan after inflicting three shido penalties on her opponent.

Yamabe's compatriot Megumi Tashimoto shared bronze with Franziska Konitz of Germany. 

Tokyo Grand Slam winner Takanori Nagase ensured the day did include some Japanese success after getting the better of Russian opponent Ivan Nifontov in his final under 81kg match, while Georgia's Avtandili Tchrikishvili and UAE's Sergiu Toma took the two final spots on the podium.

In a good omen ahead of next month's European Championships in Baku - to be held alongside the inaugural European Games - Azerbaijan tasted success in the men's under 100kg division as Elmar Gasimov took gold ahead of Lukas Krpalek, while Ramadan Darwish of Egypt and Toma Nikiforov of Belgium each took bronze.

There was an expected Georgian victory at under 90kg, albeit not for the man who was expected to triumph.

World number one Varlam Lipartellani was eliminated early only for his compatriot Beka Gviniashvili to produce an ippon in the final to overcome Asian Games champion Yuya Yoshida of Japan.

Asley Gonzalez of Cuba and Noel Van T End of The Netherlands took the two bronzes.

Watch the latest action on Judo TV here



Related stories
May 2015: Mongolia, Japan and Russia at the double as World Judo Masters opens
May 2015: Superstar Riner aiming to put injury problems behind him at World Judo Masters in Rabat
May 2015: Home fighter denied gold as IJF Baku Grand Slam draws to close
May 2015: Briton Conway shocks returning world number one by taking gold at IJF Baku Grand Slam
May 2015: Shikhalizada claims shock win to delight of home crowd at IJF World Tour Baku Grand Slam