Kelmendi, who marked Kosovo's Olympic Games debut in Rio de Janeiro with the country's first gold, produced another superb display as she topped the podium in the women's under-52 kilograms category at the AccorHotels Arena.

Sporting her gold backpatch, the Kosovan star breezed through to the final and she then proved too strong for Japan's Natsumi Tsunoda in the gold medal bout.

Distria Krasniqi continued the excellent showing from Kosovo in the French capital, a candidate city for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as she beat home judoka Astride Gneto for bronze.

Natalia Kiziutina of Russia claimed the other bronze medal on offer by overcoming Angelica Delgado of the United States.

Tina Trstenjak was another newly-crowned Olympic champion to secure gold in the season-opening event as she reigned supreme in the women's under-63kg category.

The Slovenian silenced the home crowd with victory over Clarisse Agbegnenou in the final, while the two bronze medals were secured by Kioymi Watanabe of The Philippines and Margaux Pinot of France following victories over Britain's Lucy Renshall and Aimi Nouchi of Japan respectively.

Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Naohisa Takato of Japan completed his hat-trick of French triumphs by sealing the men's under-60kg title.

Takato beat Sharafuddin Lutfillaev of Uzbekistan in the gold medal bout, while former world number one Orkhan Safarov of Azerbaijan and Georgia's Amiran Papinashvili took bronze.

The duo each climbed onto the podium by virtue of wins over Brazil's Eric Takabatake and Kim Channyeong of South Korea respectively.

Jeong Bo-kyeong was also able to maintain her good form as the Olympic silver medallist from the Rio Games took the women's under-48kg honours.

The South Korean edged Mönkhbatyn Urantsetseg in the final to secure the gold, with Ami Kondo of Japan's victory over Anais Mosdier of France handing her the first bronze medal in the division.

The second bronze went to Milica Nikolic of Serbia, who outclassed Spain's Julia Figueroa.

It proved to be a day for emerging names in the sport to cement their arrival onto the world stage as Kwon You-jeong of South Korea marked her Paris Grand Slam debut by winning the women's under-57kg gold medal.

Kwon outperformed France's Helene Receveaux in the final to cap a memorable day for the 21-year-old.

Priscilla Gneto of France was a recipient of a bronze medal as she defeated Brazil's Rio 2016 Olympic champion Rafaela Silva - whose gold medal provided one of the highlights of last year's Games - in the second bronze medal match.

Tsukasa Yoshida of Japan had earlier beaten Nora Gjakova of Kosovo to claim the first bronze on offer.

Hifumi Abe continued his rise to stardom with his fourth Grand Slam title as the Japanese saw off the challenge of Anzaur Ardanov of Russia to top the podium in the men's under-66kg competition.

European champion Vazha Margvelashvili of Georgia and Nijat Shikhalizade of Azerbaijan claimed bronze, beating Mongolia's Kherlen Ganbold and Canadian Antoine Bouchard in their respective bouts.

World Judo Masters winner Shoichi Hashimoto picked up his second successive IJF Grand Slam title with a golden score triumph against a formidable opponent in defending champion Ab Chang-rim of South Korea.

The win allowed him to close the gap on the world rankings to Azerbaijan's Rustam Orujov, the Olympic silver medallist, who then lost out to team-mate Hidayat Heydarov for bronze.

Tohar Butbul of Israel joined the Azerbaijani athlete on the podium with victory against Giyosjon Boboev of Uzbekistan.

The Paris Grand Slam event concludes tomorrow.