ADVERTISEMENTThe Judo Grand Prix in Qingdao, Eastern China, got underway on Wednesday.
The first of three days of the competition that allocates points for Olympic qualification saw five golds up for grabs.
One of which went to Russian Yakub Shamilov who beat World number 23 Sebastian Seidl of Germany to the under 66 kilo title.
Vincent Limare took the second men’s gold on the day for his first title at this level.
The Frenchman beat Armenia’s Hovhannes Davtyan to win the under 60 kilo title.
World number four Miryam Roper of Germany who won last year’s Grand Slam Moscow, beat home talent LIU, Yang to win the women’s under 57 kilo gold.
Roper enjoyed a yuko score early in the contest which proved enough for top honours.
Romania’s Monica Ungureanu upset the odds by beating pre-tournament favourite and world number eight Paula Pareto of Argentina to win the under 48 kilo category by ippon.
2013 world champion and world number four Natalaia Kuziutina broke little to no sweat to claim gold in the under 52 kilo class.
The Russian’s opponent in the final, Japan’s Yuka Nishida withdrew from the fight through injury.