Both judoka were penalised for negative posture and after some typically intricate ne-waza work from Dolgova, she captured the arm of Baku 2015 European Games silver medallist Sahin to submit her with a juji-gatame after 67 seconds.

The Tashkent Grand Prix bronze medallist reached the final by overcoming Sahin’s compatriot Dilara Lokmanhekim, who went on to claim the first of the third-placed medals at the expense of Romania’s Monica Ungureanu, before China’s Shishi Xie got the better of Hungary’s Eva Csernoviczki. 

In the women’s under 52kg category, France’s Annabelle Euranie emerged from a high-quality field to defeat Brazil's world bronze medallist Erika Miranda in the final. 

The European Games silver medallist scored ippon after just 26 seconds having earlier beaten fellow countrywoman Priscilla Gneto in the semi-finals.

Gneto bounced back from the disappointment to defeat Poland’s Karolina Pienkowska in the second bronze medal match after Kosovo’s Majlinda Kelmendi had seen off the challenge of Germany’s Mareen Kraeh.

The third female winner of the day was South Korea’s Jan-Di Kim, who claimed her second consecutive IJF World Judo Tour event title in the under 57kg division, beating Taiwan's Chen-Ling Lien.

The Tashkent Grand Prix winner continued her upward trajectory towards the summit of the category by winning on shido penalties against the two-time Tokyo Grand Slam bronze medallist.

The first bronze medal was won by beaten semi-finalist Loredana Ohai of Romania, beating Serbia’s Jovana Rogic before Germany’s Viola Waechter outdid Canada’s Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard.

In the first men’s final, Georgia’s Amiran Papinashvili pipped junior world silver medallist Tsendochir Tsogtbaatar of Mongolia to under 60kg gold.

Tsogtbaatar, 19 fell behind to a waza-ari before pulling back a yuko by countering a trademark pick up attempt from his opponent.

Papinashvili added a yuko before Tsendochir claimed a second, only for the former to change his tactics, reverting to defensive mode.

The Georgian talent received his third penalty for passivity with 14 seconds left and all but grinded to a halt in the final seconds as Tsogtbaatar finished runner-up for the second time in Abu Dhabi in the space of a week.

The first bronze medal was claimed by Kazakhstan’s Rustam Ibrayev, who squeezed past Bekir Ozlu, while the second went to Uzbekistan’s Diyorbek Urozboev, overcoming Hovhannes Davtyan of Armenia.

The final gold medal of the day was won by South Korea's Baul An, who stepped onto the tatami for the first time in a competition since winning the under 66kg world title in August.

The 21-year-old won his first Grand Slam gold medal in a fascinating contest which pitted him against Russia's Olympic champion Arsen Galstyan.

An reigned supreme once more as he was penalised twice, while Galstyan was penalised on three occasions.

The first bronze medal was won by Uzbekistan’s Rishod Sobirov, who beat Germany’s Sebastian Seidl, while the second went to Ukraine’s Georgii Zantaraia with Russia’s Kamal Khan-Magomedov missing out.

Action in Abu Dhabi is due to continue tomorrow with the women’s under 63kg and under 70kg judoka being joined on the three tatami by those in the men’s under 73kg and under 81kg categories.

The three-day Grand Slam, the fourth of the season, offers vital qualification points towards next year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

To watch the latest action on Judo TV click here.


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