Hwang Ye-Sul (pictured top left) and Gwak Dong-han were the stars on the day for South Korea as they both won gold medals in the women's -70kg and men's -90kg events respectively.

Reigning Asian champion Hwang overcame Zhao Jia of China, playing a clever tactical game which led to her opponent being penalised on four occasions for hansokumake, handing her the gold medal, which should offer some solace for her fourth-place finish at London 2012.

The bronze medals went to Fanny Estelle Posvite of France as she saw off Karen Nun-Ira of Japan, whilst Cuban Onix Cortes Aldama defeated Tserenkhand Tsendsuren of Mongolia to add to the silver medal she won at the International Judo Federation (IJF) Grand Prix in Miami last month.

Gwak Dong-han took South Korea's second gold in the judo with a win over  Bunddorj Janchivdorj

Gwak ensured a fantastic day for South Korea as he battled to victory in the men's -90kg, defeating Bunddorj Janchivdorj from Mongolia after picking up less penalty points than his opponent, who produced his best performance of the season to claim silver.

Alexandr Jurecka of the Czech Republic must be wondering what he can do to make a final as he ended up with a third consecutive competition bronze medal, following on from his third-place finishes at the Baku Grand Slam and the Samsun Grand Prix, after defeating Chingiz Mamedov from Kyrgyzstan to claim another bronze.

European Championship bronze medallist Kirill Voprosov of Russia took the second bronze medal thanks to a win over Aleksandar Kukolj of Serbia.

France's first medal of the Games came through Abu Dhabi Grand Prix silver medallist Maelle Di Cintio, who overcame Sano Kayoko of Japan in a closely fought contest in the women's -70kg final.

(Left to right) Silver medallist Sano Kayoko,  gold medallist Maelle Di Cintio, and bronze medallists Kathrin Unterwurzacher and Marta Labazina 

Her semi-final opponent Kathrin Unterwurzacher from Austria won one of the bronze medals after taking victory against Ana Cachola of Portugale, whilst the other one went to Marta Labazina of Russia, who overcame Maryna Murashko from neighbouring Ukraine.

Finally, Japan got their hands on their first gold medal on the mat in the men's -81kg event as 19-year-old Nagase Takanori defeated Yakhyo Imamov from Uzbekistan in a strong performance, pulling off a precise and effective o-guruma en route to his win.

Mammadali Mehdiyev of Azerbaijan took bronze by defeating Gao Haiyuan of China, whilst Laszlo Csoknyai from Hungary took the second bronze with a win over to Lee Seungsu of South Korea.

Photos: © IJF media by Nicolas Messner

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