Russia's first gold medal came in the women's under 48kg weight division where Universiade winner Alesya Kuznetsova took on China's Wu Shugen.

The home athlete, and winner of the Military Championships, was a surprise finalist, having seen off Germany's world number 18 Kay Kraus in the semi-finals.

But the Chinese judoka could not replicate these efforts in the final as Kuznetsova won the contest with a low tai-otoshi for wazi-ari.

Russia saw even more success in this opening weight division, as Lusine Avakyan took the first bronze medal/

She beat Romania's Monica Ungureanu with a ko-soto-gari for wazi-ari in the first of the two bronze finals.

It was Kraus who walked away with the second bronze, edging past China's Jiang Yahong scoring just a single shido penalty to Yahong's two.

Alesya Kuznetsova opened Russia's medal haul with a win over China's Wu Shugen in
the under 48kg division


The next event saw another gold medal for Russia as Natalia Kuziutina broke into the under 52kg division's top 10 with a win over Germany's Romy Tarangul.

Tarangul looked shaky throughout the final, scoring three shido penalties before Kuziutina threw her to the tatami with an uki-goshi for ippon with just 26 seconds left.

It was the second successive ippon for the Russian, having beaten fellow countryman Yulia Ryzhova by ippon with just 35 seconds remaining in the semi-finals.

After that defeat to Kuziutina, Ryzhova found herself in the first bronze medal final against China's Asian Championships bronze medallist Liu Jing.

The Russian recorded the biggest win of her career to date in this semi-final as she threw Jing with a Harai-makikomi for ippon after just 55 seconds.

Milena Mendes opened Brazil's offensive for the tournament with a surprise victory over Romania's Andreea Chițu in the second bronze medal final.

Brazil's first female world champion, Rafaela Silva, managed one better than her lighter compatriot as she just missed out on gold in the under 57kg division.

It was Romania's Olympic silver medallist Corina Căprioriu who beat her in the final after the Brazilian suffered a shido penalty in the otherwise even contest.

That victory made it two wins in two over Brazil for Căprioriu, after she knocked out Tamires Da Silva in the semi-final.

That loss left her to battle it out for bronze against Romania's Loredana Ohai.

But unfortunately Da Silva suffered the same fate as her teammate in the final and lost by a single shido penalty to gift Ohai the first bronze.

Romania's Corina Căprioriu took gold in the under 57kg weight division leaving Brazil's Rafaela Silva to settle for silver


The second bronze medal final pitched Russia's Irina Zabludina against out-of-form World Judo Masters winner, Dorjsürengiin Sumiya.

The Mongolian took the lead in the contest, scoring a yuko off of an uchi-mata and ouchi-gari comibination.

But Zabludina responded quickly, levelling the score with a yuko from a ko-soto-gari, only to see Sumiya jump back in front with a morote-seoi-nage for another yuko.

The Russian had the last laugh, however, scoring a wazi-ari with just five seconds left to steal the bronze and add another medal to Russia's extensive collection.

The first men's competition saw un-seeded South Korean teenager In-Hyuk Choi take a surprise gold medal in the under 60kg category.

Choi beat Mongolia's Kherlen Ganbold by scoring just one shido penalty to his opponents two, with both judoka being penalised for passivity.

Choi, 19, booked his place in the final by beating home judoka Yunlong He in the semi-finals.

The Chinese athlete made it two successive defeats when he lost to Junior World Championships bronze medallist Sheng-Ting Huang of Chinese Taipei in the first bronze medal final.

Germany's Tobias Englmaier secured the second bronze medal, beating the Czech Republic's Pavel Petrikov by a single yuko score.

Russia's Tokyo Grand Slam bronze medallist Alim Gadanov walked away with the final gold medal of the day, as he defeated Mongolia's world number one Davaadorjiin Tömörkhüleg in the the under 66kg final.

Russia's Alim Gadanov threw Mongolia's Davaadorjiin Tömörkhüleg with a ippon seoi-nage to win the under 66kg division


Gadanov threw Davaadorjiin with an ippon seoi-nage for wazi-ari, before the Mongolian scored a shido penalty for passivity to seal his fate.

Kamal Khan-Magomedov won the first bronze final against South Korea's Seung-Jin Jang after just 22 seconds, to take Russia's medal tally to seven for the tournament.

Duanbin Ma won the final bronze medal of the day as he beat countryman Yifan Yang in an all Chinese affair.

To watch the latest action on Judo TV click here.

Photos©IJF Media Team by G. Sabau

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