The Japanese medal haul was set rolling by Olympic champion Matsumoto Kaori as she overcame France's Madrid European Open silver medallist Helene Receveaux in the women's under 57 kilogramme final before a crowd that included International Judo Federation President Marius Vizer. 

Kaori is undefeated on the Judo World Tour since her heroics at London 2012 and ensured this streak would continue after countering an ouchi-gari attempt from her opponent with a ko-soto-gari for a waza-ari score - the only difference between the two athletes come the final bell.

The first bronze medal final of this contest gave the local fans a reason to cheer as Hedvig Karakas triumphed against Romania's Corina Caprioriu to earn, not only her country's first medal of the competition, but also Hungary's 500th international judo medal.

The second bronze medal fell into the hands of Slovenia's Vlora Bedeti as she edged Mongolia's former World Judo Masters winner Dorjsuren Sumiya on shido penalties.

International Judo Federation President Marius Vizer officially opened the inaugural Budapest Grand Prix at the Papp Laszlo Sport Arena ©IJF

Paris Grand Slam bronze medallist Tashiro Miku continued Japan's hot streak as she beat Havana Grand Prix bronze medallist Martyna Trajdos of Germany to win the under 63kg gold medal.

After conceding a couple of early shido penalties, Trajdos was caught off-guard by her Japanese opponent with Miku seizing control of the encounter with a waza-ari score and the win.

A waza-ari was enough for France's Maelle Di Cintio to secure the first of the two bronze medals, as the Madrid Open bronze medallist overcame Poland's Agata Ozdoba.

The second bronze was sealed by The Netherlands' world number three Anicka Van Emden as she defeated Russia's Sofia European Open bronze medallist Ekaterina Valkova by a yuko score from osaekomi-waza.

Tashiro Miku continued Japan's hot streak as she beat Havana Grand Prix bronze medallist Martyna Trajdos of Germany in the women's under 63kg contest ©IJF





On the men's side, world number one Takato Naohisa maintained his and Japan's winning streak as he beat Georgian European silver medallist and world number two Amiran Papinashvili in the under 60kgf final.

The world champion did well to soak up the Georgian's attacks before pouncing to win by ippon in the closing seconds of the bout.

France's Baku Grand Slam bronze medallist Sofiane Milous overcame Mongolia's Amartuvshin Dashdavaa to secure the first bronze medal of this contest, while the second bronze medal was claimed by Azerbaijan's Ilgar Mushkiyev, who defeated Kazakhstan's Tbilisi Grand Prix silver medallist Yerkebulan Kossayev.

Japan's final gold came in the men's under 66kg category Jeju Grand Prix silver medallist Takaichi Kengo won his first Grand Prix gold medal with victory over Belarus' in-form Madrid European Open winner Dzmitry Shershan.

In this contest, Azerbaijan's world number eight Nijat Shikhalizada took the first bronze medal with a win over Georgia's former Baku Grand Slam bronze medallist Shalva Kardava, while former Ukrainian world champion Georgii Zantaraia beat Poland's Pawel Zagrodnik.

The opening contest of the Grand Prix, the women's under 48kg competition, proved a successful one for the hosts as European champion Eva Csernoviczki won her country's first gold medal with victory against Italy's Sofia European Open bronze medallist Valentina Moscatt.

The home athlete was hot favourite coming into the event and did not disappoint as she overcame her Italian opponent on shido penalties.

Mongolia found success in the first bronze medal match as Ulaanbaatar Grand Prix silver medallist Galbadrakh Otgontsetseg got the better of Guinea-Bissau's  African champion Taciana Lima-Balde.

The second bronze went to 19-year-old Tokyo Grand Slam winner Kondo Ami of Japan as she beat Spain's Havana Grand Prix bronze medallist Julia Figueroa.

Eva Csernoviczki gave the home fans a reason to cheer as she beat Valentina Moscatt in the opening contest of the day ©IJF





The final contest of the day saw United Arab Emirates favourite Victor Scvortov defeat Georgian Olympic champion Lasha Shavdatuashvili in the men's under 73kg final.

The duo were tied on three shido penalties apiece before Shavdatuashvili suffered a knee injury and was unable to continue in the contest.

Mongolia's former world champion Khashbaatar Tsagaanbaatar secured the first bronze medal as he beat teammate Ganbaatar Odbayar.

The final medal of the day was awarded to Georgia's Zebeda Rekhviashvili as he defeated former European bronze medallist Pierre Duprat of France.

Watch the latest action on Judo TV here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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