The host nation got off to a flying start with victory in the women's under-48 kilograms division as Catarina Costa delivered a golden-score victory over South Korea's Lee Hye-kyeong.

Costa was delighted to clinch victory in front of the home fans.

"I came here to get sensations," she said.

"I'm far from being at 100 per cent but my head was right, much better than the body.

"It always helps to have the crowd on your side but today it was for sure a mental win."

France's Lea Beres earned bronze on her first appearance in the final block of an event on the World Judo Tour as she beat Belgium's Ellen Salens, with another French athlete in Mélanie Vieu requiring nearly two minutes of golden score to overcome The Netherlands' Amber Gersjes.

The other two women's events were won by Olympic gold medallists from Kosovo and Brazil.

Distria Krasniqi of Kosovo triumphed in the under-48kg category at Tokyo 2020, and enjoyed further success in the under-52kg in Almada.

She saw off Ana Viktorija Puljiz of Croatia to take gold, with the bronze medals going to Fabienne Kocher of Switzerland and Joana Diogo, who came out on top in the all-Portuguese clash with Maria Siderot.

Rio 2016 under-57 kilogram champion Silva marked her return to the World Judo Tour by claiming gold in the same weight division at the expense of The Netherlands' Pleuni Cornelisse.

The Brazilian only returned from a two-year doping ban late last year, at the Baku Grand Slam, where she lost in the first round.

Park Eun-song beat her South Korean compatriot Kim Jaer-yeong to win the first bronze, with Telma Monteiro clinching a third medal of the day for Portugal by defeating France's Martha Fawaz to also place third.

In the men's under-60kg, Lee Ha-rim earned South Korea's first gold of the Grand Prix by overcoming Balabay Aghayev of Azerbaijan in the final.

Tsogt-Ochir Byambajav of Mongolia finished third with victory over Italy's Angelo Pantano, but his compatriot Sumiyabazar Enkhtaivan could not join him after losing to Japan's Taiki Nakamura.

Both bronze medallists beat Spain's top seed Francisco Garrigós earlier in the competition.

Denis Vieru of Moldova belied his tough path to gold, and saw off Switzerland's Freddy Waizenegger to triumph in the men's under-66kg.

Waizenegger stunned two-time Olympic medallist An Ba-ul in the semi-final, although the South Korean recovered to beat Narmandakh Bayanmunkh of Mongolia to bronze.

Ukraine's Bogdan Iadov came joint third, consigning his opponent Yamato Fukuda of Japan to fifth.

Competition at the Grand Prix is set to continue tomorrow in the women's under-63kg and under-70kg, and the men's under-73kg and under-81kg.