The unseeded Ozlu successively eliminated the United States’ Aaron Kunihiro, Canada’s Sergio Pessoa, Uzbekistan’s Diyorbek Urozboev and Azerbaijan’s Ilgar Mushkiyev en route to the final.

It set up a showdown with his compatriot, who had efeated top seed Orkhan Safarov of Azerbaijan during the preliminary rounds before overcoming Vincent Limare, the world number 16 and likely French representative at Rio 2016, in the semi-finals.

The gold medal match saw Kaba launch a first super strong ko-uchi-gari, from which Ozlu miraculously escaped for no score just before Kaba was penalised with a shido for a wrong grip.

It was then Ozlu’s turn to demonstrate his skills, producing an aerial uchi-mata which saw his team-mate penalised again for passivity as he was just escaping from the danger.

A low version of his uchi-mata earned Ozlu the first positive score, giving him a strong lead.

It was with a last penalty given to Kaba for stepping outside of the fighting area, however, that Ozlu won the gold medal for the Turkish delegation. 

The first bronze medal fight opposed Bulgaria’s Yanislav Gerchev and Azerbaijan’s Ilgar Mushkiyev, the latter coming out on top, and the second was won by Uzbekistan’s Diyorbek Urozboev at the expense of Limare.

There was heartache for the home supporters in the women’s under 48kg category final as Dilara Lokmanhekim lost out to Kazakhstan’s Otgontsetseg Galbadrakh.

The 21-year-old Turkish athlete was quickly thrown two times, the first one with a sumi-gaeshi for waza-ari, followed a few seconds later by a massive ura-nage for a full ippon.

Galbadrakh, winner of the Paris Grand Slam earlier this year, secured her place in the final by beating France’s Laetitia Payet, who eliminated reigning Olympic champion Sarah Menezes of Brazil in the quarter-finals.

Menezes and Payet went on to claim the bronze medals, defeating Israel’s Shira Rishony and North Korea’s Sol Mi Kim respectively.

In the women’s under 52kg final, Turkmenistan’s Gulbadam Babamuratova defeated Spain’s Laura Gomez, who overcame top seed Annabelle Euranie of France in the penultimate round.

Babamuratova, the 2015 Tashkent Grand Prix winner, scored a first yuko after less than 30 seconds with a large left-handed ippon-seoi-nage.

Both athletes were penalised two times in a row with a shido for passivity before they entered the last minute, but the first yuko ultimately made the difference and earned Babamuratova a second Grand Prix gold medal.

Euranie lost against Kosovo’s Distria Krasniqi in the second bronze medal match after Israel’s Gili Cohen had got the better of Portugal’s Joana Ramos.

There was an all-French final in the women’s under 57kg category as Helene Receveaux saw off the challenge of Automne Pavia.

Currently ranked seventh in the world, Receveaux appears to have the advantage over her elder in the race for Olympic qualification  but London 2012 bronze medallist Pavia is not far behind in 13th.

The first dangerous attack came from Pavia with her ample uchi-mata throwing Receveaux onto her stomach for no score before being penalised with a first shido for passivity.

Receveaux was again penalised with a second shido and a third one, while Pavia was only penalised twice. 

With only two seconds left on the scoreboard, Pavia seemed to have the gold medal firmly in her hands, which would have put her in a very positive position for Olympic qualification.

Receveaux then launched a very last uchi-mata for waza-ari to totally change the final result and potentially the upcoming selection.

Great Britain’s Nekoda Smythe Davis edged Germany’s Theresa Stoll in the first bronze medal match after which Stoll’s countrywoman Miryam Roper defeated The Netherlands’ Sanne Verhagen.

In the men’s under 66kg showdown, South Korea’s Limhwan Kim defeated Mongolia’s Altansukh Dovdon.

The two competitors failed to score in regulation time and it was a shido given to Dovdon after more than two minutes in the golden score that ensured the 23-year-old Kim his first Grand Prix gold medal.  

Ukraine’s Gevorg Khachatrian was one of the two bronze medallists, beating Kazakhstan’s Azamat Mukanov prior to Armenian Ferdinand Karapetian’s triumph against Russia’s Yakub Shamilov.

Action in Samsun is due to continue tomorrow with the women’s under 63kg and under 70kg categories, and men’s under 73kg and under 81kg classes all taking centre stage.

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