With seven gold medals up for grabs on day one of this first ever Jeju Grand Prix, the Japanese athletes helped themselves to three of them although the competitors from the host nation were not far behind with two.

Japan came out on top of the opening under 48kg contest with Emi Yamagishi beating home favourite Bo-Kyeong Jeong to gold ©IJF Media



Toyko Grand slam bronze medallist Emi Yamagishi set the tone for the day when she beat home favourite Bo-Kyeong Jeong in the opening under 48 kilogram women's event.

Top seed Jeong was penalised twice with shido penalties for a false attack and passivity before being thrown to the tatami by an osoto-gari with just a second remaining, giving the Japanese athlete the win and the first gold medal.

The host nation suffered more misery in the opening contest when Spain's losing semi finalist Julia Figueroa defeated Jung-Yeon Chung with an ouchi-gari for ippon within the first minute of the bronze medal match.

The other bronze medal was awarded to Ukraine's Maryna Cherniak after receiving less shido penalties than her German opponent Kay Kraus.

International Judo Federation President Marius Vizer was an interested spectator on the opening day of the Jeju Grand Prix ©IJF

More defeats were to beset the home competitors in the women's under 52kg event with Lee Jung-Eun missing out on gold with a defeat to Mongolia's Bundmaa Munkhbaatar and Ju Hee Ha dropping out of medal contention with defeat in her bronze medal match with Romania's Larisa Florian.

Romania picked up another bronze medal in this event when Andreea Chitu held down her Ukranian opponent Tetiana Levytska with a kesa-gatame for ippon.

Japan added a second gold to its tally when 18-year-old Christa Deguchi shocked Romania's Olympic silver medallist Corina Caprioriu in the women's under 57kg category.

The young Japanese star scored a wazi-ari after just 20 seconds before securing the gold medal with a second with just 51 seconds remaining.

Home fans were left frustrated yet again in the bronze medal matches as Serbia's Jovana Rogic bounced back from defeat in the semi finals to beat Yoomi Cha and Shushana Hevondian added another medal for Ukraine with victory over Ji Eun Sung.

The South Koreans tasted their first slice of gold in the heaviest women's event of the day when teammates Da-Woon Joung and Seulgi Kim met in the under 63kg category.

It was Joung who came out on top this encounter after Kim was disqualified for hansoku-make following four shido penalties.

Da-Woon Joung earned South Korea's first gold medal beating compatriot Seulgi Kim in the under 63kg final ©IJF Media



Jiyun Park added another medal for the South Koreans as she edged past Mongolian youngster Mungunchimeg Baldorj with just one yuko score for the first bronze medal.

An all Swedish affair in the second contest saw Anna Bernholm overcome Mia Hermansson by a mere shido penalty score to take home the bronze medal.

The first men's event of the day brought more success for South Korea with Tokyo Grand Slam silver medallist Kim Won-Jin continuing his fine form to beat Chinese Taipei judoka Ming yen Tsai in the under 60kg category.

The 17-year-old made for an exciting contest as he met Kim with a flurry of attacks in the earlier stages of the match however the more experienced athlete gradually took control and pinned his teenage rival with a mune-gatame which sapped every ounce of energy out of the young judoka to win by ippon in the final minute.

The home nation secured one of the two bronze medals when Dong Kyu Hwang overcame compatriot Tae-Won Hwang with a decisive wazi-ari score.

Ryo Kawabata claimed another medal for Japan by ensuring Mongolia's beaten semi finalist Ser-Od Nasanjargal suffered a second defeat in a row in the other bronze medal contest.

South Korea's Kim Won-Jin overcame the energetic Chinese Taipei judoka Ming yen Tsai in the under 60kg category for the hosts second gold of the day ©IJF Media



Yuhei Rokugo ensured Japan would end the day on top of the medal table when he beat teammate Kengo Takaichi in the under 66kg event.

The bronze medals were won by South Korea's Taeho Youn and Ukraine's Georgii Zantaraia who beat Mongolia's Altansukh Dovdon and British athlete Colin Oates respectively.

The final gold medal of the day was the only one not to land into the hands of an Asian competitor as Ukraine's Serhiy Drebot met Spain's Kiyoshi Uematsu in the under 73kg division.

Drebot continued a successful campaign for the Ukrainian team as he finished atop the podium following a wazi-ari victory over his Spanish opponent.

Dongsuk Lee captured South Korea's final medal of the day with a victory over Greece's Georgios Azoidis in the first bronze medal match and Nikita Khomentovskiy got Russia's medal tally up and running with a win over Ukraine's Dmytro Kanivets.

Competition continues tomorrow in the final day of the Grand Prix where seven more gold medals will be decided.

To watch the latest action on Judo TV click here

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