Abe produced a flawless performance in the women’s under-52 kilograms title final to defeat France’s Astride Gneto, and her compatriot Funa Tonaki, who has won gold and two silvers in the last three editions of the World Championships, made it a great opening night for Japan as she won the under-48kg title by defeating Russia’s Irina Dolgova.

The under-52kg bronze medals went to Switzerland’s Everlyne Tschopp and Spain’s Ana Perez Box, while the under-48kg bronzes went to Francesca Milani of Italy and Russia’s Irena Khubulova.

France’s 22-year-old European champion of last yar, Shirine Boukli, had to settle for fifth place.

The third women’s gold of the night went to France’s Helene Receveaux in the under-57kg, where she earned her first Grand Slam title since 2016 by defeating a Russian opponent Daria Mezhetskaia who had made spectacular progress in the earlier rounds.

Bronze medals in this category went to Marica Perisic of Serbia and Germany’s Theresa Stoll.

Georgia’s Lukhumi Chkvimiani earned an outstanding gold in the men’s under-60kg class, beating home judoka and top seed Robert Mshvidobadze in the final.

Bronze medals went to another Russian, Ramazan Abdulaev, and Kazakhstan’s Dauren Syukenov.

But there was one home gold to be celebrated before the opening finals were over, thanks to Murad Chopanov, who defeated Dzmitry Minkou of Belarus in the final.

Chopanov’s compatriot Yakub Shamilov took bronze, as did Yesset Kuanov of Kazakhstan.

The three-day event is due to conclude on Friday (May 7).