Mönkhbatyn Urantsetseg, white, won the women's under-48kg title today ©IJF

World Championships silver medallist Mönkhbatyn Urantsetseg of Mongolia has claimed gold on the opening day of the International Judo Federation (IJF) Grand Prix in Tashkent.

Urantsetseg justified her number one seeding by taking the title in the women’s lightest weight category of under-48 kilograms at the Uzbekistan Tennis Courts, the fifth Grand Prix gold medal of her career.

She was expected to maintain Mongolia’s momentum from the World Championships, where they won a record haul of six medals.

Urantsetseg overcame world number five Milica Nikolic of Serbia in the final.

She finished fifth at the World Championships and was aiming to win her second Grand Prix title but ultimately fell short as Urantsetseg pinned her opponent for 20 seconds

Bronze medals were shared between Mariia Persidskaia of Russia and Hungary's Eva Csernoviczki.

IJF Grand Prix debutant Betina Temelkova of Israel claimed gold in the women's under-52kg category.

The 20-year-old defeated three-time Grand Prix bronze medallist Agata Perenc of Poland with an ippon to complete an incredible debut at the highest level.

Belgium's Charline Van Snick and Petra Nareks of Slovenia rounded out the podium.

In today's third and final women's category, Poland's Anna Borowska celebrated the biggest win of her career at the expense of former European Championships bronze medallist Timna Nelson Levy of Israel in the under-57kg final.

Former Junior European Championships winner Borowska threw the Israeli with an o-goshi to seal the title.

Kaja Kajzer of Slovenia recorded her country's second bronze of the day while Kazakhstan's Sevara Nishanbayeva took a share of third place.

Dzmitry Minkou, blue, sealed the men's under-66kg gold ©IJF
Dzmitry Minkou, blue, sealed the men's under-66kg gold ©IJF

There was also action in two men's categories today.

Former Baku Grand Slam silver medallist Vugar Shirinli of Azerbaijan struck gold in the under-60kg category.

Tbilisi Grand Prix bronze medallist Islam Yashuev of Russia took silver after falling by a waza-ari after four minutes.

Sharafuddin Lutfillaev delighted the home crowd by winning one bronze medal while Kazakh Abylaikhan Sharatov won the other.

Belarus' Dzmitry Minkou then claimed the best result of his career as he secured the under-66kg gold.

Minkou defeated Mongolia's Asian Championships bronze medallist Kherlen Ganbold, who moved up the under-66kg division last year, by two waza-ari scores.

The Belorussian, who started the day ranked 15th in the world, will now be pushing for a place in the top 10 and has all but assured himself of a spot in December’s invite-only World Judo Masters.

Sardor Nurillaev won a second bronze for Uzbekistan while Altansukh Dovdon of Mongolia completed the medal positions.

Action is due to continue tomorrow with the men's under-73kg and under-81kg events as well as the women's under-63kg and under-70kg divisions.

Watch all the latest judo action on Judo TV here.