RIO DE JANEIRO - Young Japanese judoka hope Naohisa Takato delivered his country's first gold medal of the world championships on Monday in Rio de Janeiro. The 20-year-old took the men's -60 kilogrammes title beating Mongolia's Amartuvshin Dashdavaa in the final and proved the perfect riposte to a Mongolian having denied one of his celebrated compatriots in the previous final.
Japanese judoka Haruna Asami's hopes of a third successive world title in the -48 kilogramme category were dashed as Mongolia's Asian champion Urantsetseg Munkhbat beat her in the final. Munkhbat, 23, had never even won a medal in a global competition before this but she showed few nerves in taking gold with an ippon in immobilising Asami. It was quite a turnaround in her fortunes as the last time they met in competition Asami came out on top in the semi-finals of the Paris tournament in February. Asami, 25, was competing in only her third tournament of the year, and came in to the championships unbeaten having won in both Paris and Tokyo. The opening category of the championships was a great disappointment for the hosts as their Olympic champion Sarah Menezes could only take the bronze along with Belgium's Charline van Snick.
However, Menezes despite once again missing out on the elusive world title and taking bronze for the third time celebrated as if it was a gold in front of a crowd that had grwon sizeable through the day with entrance costing nothing.