Japan dominate Paris Grand Slam with five gold medals

Japanese judoka came away from the French capital with a total of five gold medals from winning two men’s and three women’s classes, plus they earned three silver medals and seven bronzes.

Host nation France did their bit to stem the tide with two golds, a silver and two bronzes, along with South Korea who won two gold medals and three bronzes.

Japan set the tone for the competition by claiming four gold medals on day one.

In the women’s competition’s, Japan’s Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallist Ami Kondo won her sixth Grand Slam title and her first in Paris. She dispatched World Judo Masters winner Distria Krasniqi of Kosovo with a ko-uchi-gari for ippon.

There was an all-Japanese Final in -52kg category as former world champion Ai Shisime defeated World Judo Masters gold medallist Natsumi Tsunoda. A third shido for passivity for the latter gave the victory to Shisime her third Grand Slam title.

The -57kg Final was an all-Canadian final and it was Christa Deguchi who successfully defended her Paris title with a win over Jessica Klimkait.

The world number seven extended her one-sided record against the World Judo Masters bronze medallist and world number five thanks to a waza-ari score from a last-ditch o-soto-gari with five seconds left in the contest.

World champion Clarisse Agbegnenou delighted her home fans as she wrote the latest chapter in the biggest rivalry in women’s judo when defeating arch-rival Olympic champion and two-time Paris winner Tina Trstenjak.

Slovenian Trstenjak more than matched her French opponent in regulation time and for three minutes of golden score. That was until the three-time world champion and owner of the red backpatch rolled over the owner of the gold backpatch for a waza-ari score and France’s first gold medal of the weekend.

In the men’s competitions on day one in Paris, Japan’s Naohisa Takato won the Paris Grand Slam for the fourth time as he maintained his 100% winning record over former world champion Yeldos Smetov of Kazakhstan.

The three-time and reigning world champion countered a desperate attempt from Smetov with te-waza with 13 seconds left on the clock for a waza-ari to live up to his red backpatch. It means the Japanese ace has now won in Paris in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019, in doing so setting a new record with a ninth victory on the Grand Slam stage.

Moldova’s Denis Vieru won his first Grand Slam final to record his country’s first win at a Grand Slam.

Vieuru upstaged his Georgian rival, the former world bronze medallist Vazha Margvelashvili, with a majestic tai-otoshi earning ippon in the -66kg final.

Former world champion Soichi Hashimoto of Japan was back among the winners on the IJF World Judo Tour for the first time since 2017 as he showed his character to grind out a hard-fought win in the -73kg Final.

The Ippon Hunter registered a much-needed gold medal by beating Hohhot Grand Prix bronze medallist Tsogtbaatar Tsend-Ochir, throwing the former -60kg competitor with a right-sided seoi-otoshi for ippon with 12 seconds of their encounter remaining.

Day two’s action saw Japan carry on where they left off the day before as World bronze medallist ONO Yoko Ono won her third Grand Slam title in the -70kg Final. Her success came at the expense of home judoka Margaux Pinot in a nervy contest settled by penalties in golden score, Pinot being penalised for the third and final time for leaving the area.

There was French success however in the -78kg Final as European champion Madeleine Malonga won her home Grand Slam for the first time.

She defeated Tashkent Grand Prix bronze medallist Luise Malzahn of Germany after two minutes, the French star opening the scoring with a waza-ari from an o-soto-gari. The contest was settled when her German rival was penalised for the third time for going out of the area.

Idalys Ortiz added a new title to her medal cabinet by beating Azerbaijan’s Iryna Kindzerska in the +78kg category.

With Olympic and world medals already to her name, the Cuban is one of the most decorated active judoka in the sport and she earned her second Grand Slam title and a first in Paris by a waza-ari score.

There were four men’s competitions to also be decided on the second day in Paris.

Germany’s Dominic Ressel won Grand Slam gold for the first time as he defeated Tel Aviv Grand Prix winner Sagi Muki of Israel by ippon for gold in the -81kg Final. Ressel countered his in-form rival for ippon to claim the best result of his career.

Former world champion Donghan Gwak of Korea was the star performer in the -90kg category as he concluded an impressive display with a win over Islam Bozbayev in the Final. Olympic bronze medallist and 2015 world champion Gwak recorded his second Grand Slam triumph by throwing his Kazakh opponent with a seoi-otoshi and a uchi-mata as he scored a waza-ari each time.

Olympic and world silver medallist Varlam Liparteliani of Georgia earned his third victory at the Paris Grand Slam with victory over Japan’s Aaron Wolf in the -100kg Final. Former world champion Wolf was caught with a uchi-mata for a waza-ari score and the Georgian held on to win his country’s first gold medal at the first Grand Slam of the year.

Korea’s Sungmin Kim of Korea took gold in the last contest of the 2019 Paris Grand Slam, the +100kg Final, by beating Olympic silver medallist Hisayoshi Harasawa of Japan by ippon with an o-soto-gari.

The next major action on the IJF Tour is the Dusseldorf Grand Slam 2019 in Germany from 22 to 24 February.