Tashiro Miku, Shohei Ono and Tato Grigalashvili all triumph in day two of the competition
ADVERTISEMENTDay Two at the ISS Dome in Dusseldorf began with impressive sights and performances on display from a group of local children. But then it was down to business and the stars of judo took to the tatami.
Our woman of the day was Japan’s -63kg Miku Tashiro, who dispatched her preliminary opponents with a variety of tachi waza and ne waza.
After defeating Austria’s Kathrin Unterwurzacher in the semi-final, Tashiro faced the World and Olympic champion Tina Trstenjak in the gold medal match.
Defending a head-to-head record of 9-0, the Japanese player was confident and — with a hold down — managed to secure a tenth win against the Slovenian.
She said: "My opponent is a really powerful judoka and especially in the first few exchanges she was really attacking me hard, but I was able to compose myself and secure the win so for that I’m really happy."
The president of the IJF, Marius Vizer presented her medals.
Elsewhere, the -73kg triple World and Olympic Champion Shohei Ono was on top form, defeating fellow Olympic champion Fabio Basile en route to the final with an impressive counter.
In the final Ono faced the 2018 World Champion An Changrim.
Going into the match with a 5-0 win record, the odds were with Ono and he managed to best An once again with a clever wazari.
“Being targeted by so many strong judokas is really difficult for me," he said, "however being able to face such strong players is really my passion and I really enjoy challenging and fighting them.
"I want to keep continuing my preparations to the Olympic Games and win my second title in the same fashion that I did today.”
Sergey Soloveychik, Vice President of the IJF and President of the EJU, presented the medals.
In the -70kg final, Japanese 2018 World Champion Chizuru Arai defeated Belgian youngster Gabriella Willems with an opportune wazari.
Meanwhile in the -81kg category Russia’s Olympic Champion Khasan Khalmurzaev was bested by Georgian powerhouse Tato Grigalashvili.
Our move of the day was this incredible technique from Mongolia’s Tsend-Ochir.
Click the video above to see how Macias went for the kosoto gari but Tsend-Ochir managed to counter with o-uchi.