Kim Hayun in blue and Lee Hyeonji in white. (Photo IJF)
Korean Lee Hyeonji stopped Japan from a clean sweep of titles on a day of exhilarating bouts at Tokyo Grand Slam judo championships.
It was not all easy for Hyeonji as she was up against teammate and current world champion Kim Hayun in the women’s +78 kg final.
The 18-year-old Hyeonji is the cadet and junior world champion, and won her first grand slam gold in Kazakhstan in May but Tokyo was another step up. She approached the challenge admirably and when her adversary dropped underneath her without breaking balance, she capitalised and applied a shime-waza for ippon.
In the women’s -70 kg category Russian Madina Taimazova was up against current world champion Shiho Tanaka of Japan.
Neither could throw the other no matter how hard they tried. In the end it was a moment of brilliance from Tanaka that gave her a tiny but very important yuko. After a failed seoi-otoshi attempt from the Russian judoka, Tanaka whipped into position and turned her on to her back. She didn’t manage to hold it for long but 5 seconds was enough for a score that separated them.
In the women’s -78 kilogram category, Patricia Sampaio of Portugal was in her elements to reach the finals. (POR) denied all the opportunity to pass her. In the final, Kurean Ikeda was her third Japanese opponent of the day.
It turned out to be one opponent too many for the Portuguese champion. Sampaio threw first with a sasae-tsuri-komi-ashi for a yuko but Ikeda responded with her own yuko, delivered in the form of a sumi-gaeshi.
Ikeda continued on the floor, using her advantage to turn and hold Sampaio for ippon and a place on the top step of the rostrum.
In the men’s all-Japanese -60kg final Hayato Kondo and Taiki Nakamura were locked in a close battle, with both men finding clever ways to unbalance the other. They attacked and worked hard in both tachi-waza and ne-waza but the win didn’t come until golden score was well under way. Kondo struck with an unbelievably aerial uchi-mata and when it landed, ippon was the only reward possible. Kondo had the win and the gold medal.
After a very long day of competition, almost 25 minutes on the tatami, double Olympic and four time world champion Hifumi Abe stepped into the arena under thunderous applause, to face countryman and grand slam debutant Kairi Kentoku in the men’s -66 kg final.
Despite Abe’s obvious superiority in terms of previous performances, both judoka know that either can find the right moment to win; it takes less than a second to apply the right technique at the right time and so every mistake is magnified.
Twenty-one year old Kentoku pushed Abe right to the wire, applying strangle attempts, high level escapes and outstanding gripping to cause him huge problems, but Abe is a champion for a reason. He has staying power like no other, the innate ability to push through all challenges and recover at a crazy speed.
After three minutes of golden score, taking his fight day well over 30 minutes, Hifumi Abe took a grip around the back and combined forward and backward attacks in quick succession until an uki-goshi stuck and he threw Kentoku. This is a gritty, hard-earned gold for Abe and an outstanding silver medal for young Kentoku at his first grand slam.
In a demonstration of skill and acrobatic resilience in the men’s -73kg, Keito Kihara and Ryuga Tanaka took to the tatami of the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
Ryuga had the measure of 2024 junior world champion Kihara but it took some time to present the evidence of that. They went into golden score virtually unscathed but in the opening exchange of extra time, tanaka took hold of both sleeves and threw Kihara with a huge sode-tsuri-komi-goshi. The gold was his!
Closing the Tokyo Grand Slam was the men’s -81 kg category, a category full of massive throws and high drama. World medallists littered the field and many of them fell before reaching the final block.
Yuhei Oino and Sotaro Fujiwara contested another all-Japanese final. They cancelled each other out for the first few minutes and accumulated two penalties each but a 3-attack combination gave Oino the score needed to win in extra time.
RESULTS
Women’s -70 kg
1. TANAKA Shiho (JPN)
2. TAIMAZOVA Madina (RUS)
3. SOBIERAJSKA Katarzyna (POL)
3. TSUNODA ROUSTANT Ai (ESP)
5. MAEDA Rin (JPN)
7. IKE Erina (JPN)
7. ERIKSSON Ida (SWE)
Women’s -78 kg
1. IKEDA Kurena (JPN)
2. SAMPAIO Patricia (POR)
3. UMEKI Mami (JPN)
3. IZUMI Mao (JPN)
5. HSU WANG Shu Huei (TPE)
5. LANIR Inbar (ISR)
7. MICHAELIDOU Zanet (CYP)
7. GODBOUT Coralie (CAN)
Women’s +78 kg
1. LEE Hyeonji (KOR)
2. KIM Hayun (KOR)
3. TOMITA Wakaba (JPN)
3. DICKO Romane (FRA)
5. SOLIMAN Safa (EGY)
5. ARAI Mao (JPN)
7. TAVANO Asya (ITA)
7. FUJII Ruri (JPN)
Men’s -60 kg
1. KONDO Hayato (JPN)
2. NAKAMURA Taiki (JPN)
3. LEE Harim (KOR)
3. NAGAYAMA Ryuju (JPN)
5. VALADIER PICARD Romain (FRA)
5. MKHEIDZE Luka (FRA)
7. AUGUSTO Michel (BRA)
7. YANG Yung Wei (TPE)
Men’s -66 kg
1. ABE Hifumi (JPN)
2. KENTOKU Kairi (JPN)
3. HATTORI Shinsei (JPN)
3. TAKEOKA Takeshi (JPN)
5. KIM Channyeong (KOR)
5. DZHEBOV Obid (TJK)
7. ACCOGLI Valerio (ITA)
7. BOUBA Daikii (FRA)
Women’s -73 kg
1. TANAKA Ryuga (JPN)
2. KIHARA Keito (JPN)
3. ODGEREL Uranbayar (MGL)
3. UCHIMURA Shusuke (JPN)
5. TANAKA Yudai (JPN)
5. SHAVDATUASHVILI Lasha (GEO)
7. YONEZUKA Jack (USA)
7. LAVJARGAL Ankhzaya (MGL)
Men’s -81 kg
1. OINO Yuhei (JPN)
2. FUJIWARA Sotaro (JPN)
3. ARBUZOV Timur (RUS)
3. HOJO Yoshito (JPN)
5. AMANO Kaito (JPN)
5. DVALASHVILI Zaur (GEO)
7. CASSE Matthias (BEL)
7. GAUTHIER DRAPEAU Francois (CAN)
