It was no surprise when the Israeli under 63 kilogram top seed made it through to the final, where she would face Tyumen Grand Slam runner-up Kathrin Unterwurzacher the Austria.

Sticking to her tried and trusted strategy, Gerbi pounced first, scoring a yuko with a fluid hip movement.

The deadlock would not be broken again with just a shido penalty apiece laying the way for Gerbi to secure victory and add yet another gold to her growing list of accolades.

Japan's Megumi Tsugane secured the one of the two bronze medals on offer in this category after beating Ulaanbaater Grand Prix winner and Asian Games silver medallist Yang Junxia of China.

The second was won by Dutchwoman Anicka Van Emden, beating Austria's Hilde Drexler in an encounter determined by shido penalties.

Yarden Gerbi has proved once again why she is one of the world's top judoka as she stormed to gold at the Qingdao Judo Grand Prix ©IJF



A great counter by Germany's Iljana Marzok ensured she secured gold in the women's under 70kg contest as she turned round a difficult situation to defeat Morocco's Assmaa Niang.

After easing her way into the final with ippons in her opening three matches, Niang looked well on her way to take the gold inside the Qingdao Guoxin Stadium.

A yoko-sumigeashi for waza-ari followed by an immobilisation put the Moroccan within seconds of victory before Marzok flipped the situation on its head to reverse the hold and secure ippon and gold.

An all-Chinese affair in the opening bronze medal final saw Zhou Chao burst to life with an early ippon against Yan Zi, while top seeded Austrian Bernadette Graf scored a brilliant ippon with tane-otosh to seal the second bronze medal against Spain's Maria Bernabeu.

North Korea's Hong Kuk Hyon continued his fine form from this year's World Championships in Chelyabinsk, as he secured top honours in the men's under 73kg final.

The Korean recorded a yuko and waza-ari score to topple Belgium's Dirk Van Tichelt and add gold to the silver he won in Russia.

After a scoreless opening two-and-a-half minutes, Sun Shuai sent the home crowd into a frenzy as he launched Mongolia's Uuveibaatar Khishigbayar into the air for ippon and the first bronze medal.

The final place on the podium was earned by Hungary's Miklos Ungvari as he displayed some superb floor play to defeat Spain's Kiyoshi Uematsu.

Sirazhudin Magomedov secured the final gold of the day with victory in the under 81kg category ©IJF



Rounding off the gold medal haul for the day was Russian top seed Sirazhudin Magomedov as he defeated Antonio Ciano of Italy after recording a waza-ari from an immobilisation in the men's under 81kg.

Sweden's Robin Pacek ended the day with a bronze medal in this contest after he beat Japan's Yasuda Tomofumi.

The final medal of the day was won by Uuganbaatar Otgonbaatar as he came out on top in the battle of the Mongolians against team mate and world number 50 Dagvasuren Nyamsuren.

Action is due to continue in China tomorrow with the women's under 78kg and over 78kg contests, alongside the men's under 90kg, under 100kg and over 100kg competitions.

Watch the latest action on Judo TV here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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