Although in its third day of the four-day Championship the official Opening Ceremony was held between the morning’s preliminary rounds and the evening’s four finals, where the IJF President Marius Vizer reflected on the progress of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Judo Federation, currently led by Branislav Crnogorac.  

“Twenty years ago I was here visiting Bosnia, the war was just finished and the Bosnia Judo Federation was born at this time," he said.

“We celebrate today 20 years after the finish of the war with these World Championships for cadets – the future of our sport and the future of Bosnia.

“Thank you to the organiser, the Bosnian Government and all who have contributed to the success of these Championships and on behalf of the IJF, I want to award the President Branislav with the highest award, the gold medal of the IJF for his contribution to the development of Bosnian Judo, European judo and international judo.”

With the focus turning back to the competition on the mat after the official opening, Takeda quickly took centre stage as she stunned Finland’s Emilia Kanerva in the under 57kg gold medal bout.

The Finn had claimed 13 straight gold medals on the circuit, prior to earning a bronze at last week’s European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF).   

Takeda began quickly, as she tried to add to Japan’s two gold medals yesterday, scoring first with a waza-ari before claiming two yukos to wrap up a convincing victory.

Poland’s Anna Dabrowska joined her on the podium, winning via an ippon in her bronze medal match against Brazil’s Vitoria Andrade.

Her team-mate Angelika Szymanska, though, fell to defeat in her clash with Germany’s Hannah Deliu, with a waza-ari proving the difference between the two judokas.

Chie Sasaki was unable to make it a fourth Japanese gold medal in two days, beig beaten by The Netherlands’ Sanne Vermeer in the girl’s under 63kg division, with the EYOF bronze medallist striking with an ippon after just 67 seconds to take the victory.

Serbia’s Anja Obradovic also scored with an ippon in the early stages of her bout with Russia’s Anastasia Kolyadenkova to claim the first bronze medal in the division.

Ukraine’s Hanna Kukharuk also secured a podium position, defeating Lithuania’s Darja Piskunova.

Another EYOF bronze medallist also secured a world title in Sarajevo as Greece’s Vasili Balampanasvili proved to be in superb form in the boy’s under 73kg division, progressing to the final by defeating his opening four opponents with ippons.

He was able to maintain that record in the final as, after scoring in the early periods with yukos, he countered an attack from his opponent Nikita Duinovs of Latvia to claim another ippon and seal the gold medal. 

Romania’s Razvan Ciolan, the EYOF runner-up, proved unable to add to his collection after he was defeated in the bronze medal match  by Ukraine’s Oleksandr Cherkai by two yukos to one.

The home crowd were to also be left empty-handed in the division as Filip Stojak was unable to overcome Uzbekistani judoka Jasur Sodikov, a waza-ari proving to be the difference.

The final contest gold medal bout of the day in the boy's under 81kg ended scoreless, with Germany’s Falk Petersilka and Brazil’s Igor Morishigue unable to land any telling blows.

Petersilka, however, took the gold having accrued less shido penalties.

Bosnia and Herzegovina were able to celebrate their only medal of the day though as Toni Miletic defeated Georgia’s Goga Kevkhishvili for bronze and was joined on the podium by Uzbekistan’s Sherkhon Turaboev after he overcame The Netherlands’ Jan Reijntjens.

Watch the latest action on Judo TV here.

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