By Paul Osborne

Japan's hopes of completing a clean sweep at the Tokyo Grand Slam came to an end on the final day of the competition ©IJFDecember 1 - Japan's hopes of completing an unprecedented clean sweep at the International Judo Federation's (IJF) Tokyo Grand Slam were shattered today as three gold medals slipped by their judoka leaving them to settle for 11 gold medals overall - 10 more than their closest rival.

The day started brightly for the host nation at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium as relatively unknown athlete Masyu Beiker kept the home fans' hopes alive when he upset South Korea's defending champion Lee Kyu-Won to take gold in the men's under 90 kilogram weight category.

The Japanese newcomer stunned Georgia's World Championship silver medallist Varlam Liparteliani with a yuko and wazi-ari in the semi-final before countering Lee's ouchi-gari attempt with an uchi-gair for yuko in the final.

Daiki Nishiyama continued the medal haul when he recovered from a semi-final defeat by Lee to secure the first bronze medal of the day with a victory over Germany's Aaron Hildebrand.

Shohei Shimowada's attempt to join his Japanese teammates on the podium was thwarted after just a minute in the second bronze medal match as stunned semi-finalist Liparteliani released his frustration with a hane-goshi for ippon.

Masyu Beiker kept the home fans' clean sweep hopes alive when he stunned Lee Kyu-Won to win the -90kg event ©IJF MediaMasyu Beiker kept the home fans' clean sweep hopes alive when he stunned Lee Kyu-Won to win the -90kg event ©IJF Media


The second contest of the day was where the dream ended for Japan and its 10,000 strong support.

Former Asian Championships bronze medallist Tomomi Okamura was defeated in her semi-final by suffering three shido penalties to her opponent's, Marhinde Verkerk of the Netherlands, one, before Ruika Sato received four penalties to lose by disqualification ensuring Japan had no competitor in the women's under 78kg gold medal final.

It was world number six Verkerk who eventually won the gold medal, catching South Korea's Jeong Gyeong-Mi with a wazi-ari score after just 75 seconds before holding on to claim top spot on the podium.

Sako and Okamura ensured that Japan still continued their medal dominance in the competition with both judoka sealing the bronze medals in their finals.

Okamura was handed the first victory when Germany's Luise Malzahn was disqualified via hansoku-make for inadvertently poking her Japanese competitor in the eye.

Sako recovered from her disappointing defeat to beat Germany's Kerstin Thiele by ippon after trapping her opponent with a mune-gatame with just a minute remaining of the match.

Marhinde Verkerk won the -78kg event breaking Japan's gold medal winning streak in the process ©IJF MediaMarhinde Verkerk won the -78kg event breaking Japan's gold medal winning streak in the process ©IJF Media


The men's under 100kg event proved to be the only contest where Japan failed to secure a medal, with Yusuke Kumashiro finishing highest for the host nation in seventh.

The Czech Republic's European champion Lukáš Krpálek finished on top of this category as he narrowly defeated Canada's junior world champion Kyle Reyes with a sumi-gaeshi for yuko within the final minute.

The first bronze medal match was scoreless going into the final minute before Mongolia's 2008 Olympic champion Naidangiin Tüvshinbayar countered Kazakh Maxim Rakov's uchi-mata attempt, powering his opponent backwards for a wazi-ari and a placed on the podium.

The second bronze medal was won by Frenchman Cyrille Maret following a harai-makikomi for wazi-ari against Sweden's losing semi finalist Martin Pacek.

The men's -100kg event was the only contest where Japan failed to secure a medal, with Lukáš Krpálek taking gold ©IJF MediaThe men's -100kg event was the only contest where Japan failed to secure a medal, with Lukáš Krpálek taking gold ©IJF Media


Japan's 11th and final gold medal came in the women's over 78kg event, where an all Japanese final ensured the top award would land in the hands of a home athlete.

The semi-finals and subsequent final were all settled on penalties with Megumi Tachimoto taking her place in the final with victory over compatriot Sara Asahina by receiving one shido penalty to her opponents two, and Kanae Yamabe beating Cuba's world and Olympic champion Idalys Ortiz, who received hansoku-make after being penalised four times for passivity.

The final also lacked the thrill factor as Tachimoto secured the gold medal following a final settled on shido penalties after a lacklustre five minutes of action.

The first bronze medal match proved a much more exciting affair when China's Qin Qian forced losing semi-finalist Asahina to submit with harai-makikomi which she followed into a osaekomi-waza.

Ortiz recovered from her semi-final defeat to beat China's Sisi Ma with a morote-eri-seoi-nage earning ippon with 32 seconds left for the second bronze medal.

South Korea's Kim Sung-Min won his third Tokyo Grand Slam gold medal at the expense of Brazil's World Championships silver medallist and top seed Rafael Silva in the last contest of the competition.

Kim, who fights in the men's over 100kg event, scored a yuko with just 30 seconds left on the clock to secure the gold medal.

The last bronze medals of the competition were both won by Japanese judoka with Hisayoshi Harasawa taking the first after compatriot Ryu Shichinohe was disqualified after receiving four shido penalties, and Masura Momose beating France's Jean-Sébastien Bonvoisin with ippon after just two minutes.

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