The 21-year-old is considered a rising star in the sport and she demonstrated her prowess on the mat with a superb victory over Edame thanks to her stern defensive display.

The first bronze medal in the division went to Linda Bolder of Israel as she cruised to a comfortable win against Barbara Matic of Croatia, who looked physically spent after an intense day of competition, while Marie Eve Gahie took the second bronze after she ousted Bernadette Graf of Austria.

"I feel so proud and good, I am so happy," Diedrich said.

"I won silver in Dusseldorf, so that was the first step and now I take another step forward by taking gold.

"It was a very important win and I now move closer to my teammates on the World Ranking List."

In the men's under 73kg class, Azerbaijan's Rustam Orujov claimed a stunning win against Olympic champion and home favourite Lasha Shavdatuashvili in the semi-final before he took that form into the final, beating Dastan Ykybayev of Kazakhstan to take the title.

Azerbaijan's Rustam Orujov (second left) performed superbly to claim victory in the men's under 73kg class in Tbilisi ©IJF



Georgia's judo star Shavdatuashvili didn't leave empty-handed though as he secured the first bronze available, proving too strong for Huseyn Rahimli of Azerbaijan, before an all-Georgian affair saw Zviad Kapanadze triumph over team mate Nugzari Tatalashvili to ensure he also finished on the podium.

It proved to be another frustrating day for the Georgian judokas as Russian Alan Khubetsov got the better of the host nation's Ushangi Margiani in a tight contest to win the under 81kg division.

The two athletes largely cancelled each other out for the majority of the fight and Khubetsov claimed the win by virtue of a single score.

Mongolia's Dagvasuren Nyamsuren beat Georgia's Papunashivili to bronze, while Sirazhudin Magomedov of Russia also sealed a top-three finish with victory against Italian Antonio Ciano.

Russian Alan Khubetsov (blue) ousted home favourite Ushangi Margiani to take gold in the under 81kg category in what was a tense final ©IJF


Elsewhere, Slovenia's Tina Trstenjak ended Mongolia's good run of form at the event so far after they claimed two golds yesterday as she ousted Munkhzaya Tsedevsuren in a tense women's under 63kg final.

World number nine Martyna Trajdos of Germany clinched the opening bronze with a narrow in over Marta Labazina, while the other podium place went to Italy's Edwige Gwend as she beat Agata Ozdoba of Poland.

The bumper weekend of judo action in the Georgian capital continues tomorrow with the women's under 78kg and over 78kg competitions as well as the men's under 90kg, under 100kg and over 100kg.

Watch the latest action on Judo TV here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
March 2015: Mongolia claim double gold on opening day of IJF Tbilisi Grand Prix
March 2015: Georgian men looking to dominate at home IJF Grand Prix
February 2015: Day of Japanese domination caps off fascinating Judo Grand Prix in Düsseldorf
February 2015: Belgium's Bottieau earns shock triumph at IJF Grand Prix
February 2015: Hot prospect Ma shines at opening IJF Grand Prix of year