Nabekura defeated the Rio 2016 gold medalist by ippon to win the event at the Zagreb Arena for the second year in a row.

Alexia Castilhos of Brazil and Canada's Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard each clinched bronze medals.

Castilhos defeated Andreja Leski to inflict more disappointment on the Slovenian team, while the Canadian proved too strong for Germany's Martyna Trajdos in their bout for bronze.

Kosovo's Akil Gjakova also overcame an Olympic gold medallist as he defeated Fabio Basile of Italy to clinch the gold medal in the under-77kg category.

Gjakova sealed his first Grand Prix title with a narrow 1-0 win over Basile, who claimed the Olympic title at under-66kg at Rio 2016. 

Israel's Tohar Batbul and Rustam Orujov were the recipients of the two bronze medals on offer after they beat Slovenia's Martin Hojak and Sweden's Tommy Macias respectively.

French judoka Marie Eve Gahie secured her second Grand Prix triumph of the year as she followed her success in Tbilisi with another gold medal at under-70kg.

Gahie took victory in dramatic fashion, beating Japan's Yoki Ono by golden score.

Britain's Sally Conway dispatched Dutch opponent Sanne Van Dijke in the first bronze medal bout, with Assmaa Niang of Morocco joining her on the podium by virtue of her win against Brazilian Amanda Oliveira.

Dominic Dressel of Germany emerged victorious from an all-European under-81kg final, beating Belgium's Matthias Casse by ippon.

Anri Egutidze of Portugal and Japan's Sotaro Fujiwara claimed the bronze medals after they overcame Italian Antonio Esposito and Alexios Ntanatsidis of Greece respectively.

The event in the Croatian capital is due to conclude tomorrow.

You can watch the action on Judo TV here.