On what proved to be a difficult day for the seeds in Georgia's capital, men's under 66 kilogram top seed Tumurkhuleg Davaadorj took gold with victory over Israel's Baruch Shmailov, ranked 198 in the world, in a closely-contested final.

The bronze medals went to Ukraine's Georgii Zantaria, who left it late before beating Russia's Yakub Shamilov, and Tarlan Karimov of Azerbaijan as he proved too strong for compatriot Nijat Shikhalizada.

Mongolia also reigned supreme in the women's under 57kg category as Sumiya Dorjsuren, a former World Judo Masters winner, sealed gold with a composed performance against Vlora Bedeti of Slovenia.

Germany ensured a monopoly of the bronze medals as Viola Waechter clinched an excellent win over Olympic silver medallist Corina Caprioriu of Romania, while teammate Miryam Roper repeated the feat by beating Loredana Ohai, another Romanian. 

Ukraine's Maryna Cherniak (second left) claimed her first-ever IJF Grand Prix gold thanks to a win over Julia Figueroa of Spain in the women's under 48kg division ©IJF


Elsewhere, there was a maiden IJF Grand Prix gold medal for Ukranian Maryna Cherniak in the women's under 48kg division thanks to her win over Spain's Julia Figueroa, who had also chasing her first-ever success.

The third seed commanded proceedings throughout the final, producing a waza-ari after 91 seconds before she kept her opponent at bay, eventually sealing what was a relatively trouble-free win, and she expressed her delight after stepping off the podium.

"Being the number three seed, I knew that a lot was expected of me," she said.

"An IJF Grand Prix medal is always good but I came here for gold today and I'm delighted to have achieved my aim."

Turkey's Ebru Sahin, considered a rising young star in the sport, took the first bronze medal in the category as she ousted Hungarian Eva Csernoviczki, while Frenchwoman Aurore Climence was rather gifted her spot on the podium after opponent, North Korea's Sol Mi Kim, received three penalties.

Finland's Jaana Sundberg white enjoyed a triumphant return to form by winning the women's under 52kg division with a victory in the final against Belgian veteran Ilse Heylem ©IJF


In the other women's class to take place today, Finnish world number 13 Jaana Sundberg returned from injury to take the under 52kg honours by virtue of a win over Belgian veteran Ilse Heylen, who will be 40 by the time the Olympics begin in Rio de Janeiro next year.

Laura Gomez maintained Spain's decent start to the event by inflicting a rare defeat on a Mongolian judoka as she outworked Tsolmon Adiyasambuu to claim the first bronze on offer, and Odette Giuffrida of Italy also earned a podium place despite amassing three penalties as she clinched victory against Israel's Gili Cohen with the only score of the contest.

The men's under 60kg category also threw up some excellent bouts and it was won by Uzbekistan's Sharafuddin Lutfillaev following his victory against surprise package Tobias Englmaier of Germany, while the bronze medals went to Lutfillaev's teammate Diyorbek Urozboev and Mongolia's Amartuvshin Dashdavaa.

Watch the latest action on Judo TV here.

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