Natsumi Tsunoda on Sunday won her third successive global title as judo superpower Japan collected their first gold medal of the Judo World Championships.
Tsunoda, 30, beat world No. 1 Shirine Boukli of France by ippon in the under-48kg category in Doha, adding to the titles she won in Tashkent last year and Budapest a year earlier.
Wakana Koga also won one of the bronze medals for Japan, with the other going to Assunta Scutto of Italy.
Photo: AFP
Taiwan’s Lin Chen-hao, who competed in the under-48kg category at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, was eliminated in the opening round of Pool B by Israel’s Tamar Malca.
Taiwan’s Lien Chen-ling, who is world No. 20 in the women’s under-57kg category, is to fight Mongolia’s Ichinkhorloo Munkhtsedev, while compatriot Liao Yu-jung is to face Portugal’s Joana Crisostomo in the opening round of the under-70kg division.
Hsu Wang Shu-huei of Taiwan is to fight Patricija Brolih of Slovenia in round two of the under-78kg category after proceeding on a bye, while Taiwan’s Tsai Jia-wen and Chang Ling-fang are to compete in the over-78kg category.
Photo: AFP
In the men’s title of the opening day, Spain’s Francisco Garrigos added the world gold in the under-60kg category to the European championship he won last year.
Garrigos beat Dilshodbek Baratov of Uzbekistan in the final, while Giorgi Sardalashvili of Georgia and Lee Ha-rim of South Korea each took bronze medals.
Taiwanese world No. 1 judoka Yang Yung-wei lost in round three of the under-60kg pool A to Kazakh Nurkanat Serikbaev.
Fellow Taiwanese Lin Chong-you was eliminated in the third round of pool D, losing to Belgium’s Jorre Verstraeten.
The championships, which end on Saturday and are a key qualifier for the Paris Olympics, mark the return to competition of Russian and Belarusian judokas, albeit as neutral competitors, after they were banned in reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A Russian, Sabina Giliazova, was in action in the women’s under-48kg category on Sunday, but was beaten in the second round by Blandine Pont of France.
Ukraine removed its team from the event last week in protest.
Additional reporting by staff writer, with AP
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