Japan rises to top of medal table at Ulan Bator Grand Slam of judo-Xinhua

Japan rises to top of medal table at Ulan Bator Grand Slam of judo

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

2022-06-26 08:21:15

ULAN BATOR, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Japan on Saturday overtook host Mongolia to top the medal table at the Ulan Bator Grand Slam of judo which started here on Friday.

Japan won three medals on the second day of the tournament when the women's 63kg and 70kg and the men's 73kg and 81kg categories competitions were held, to bring its medal total to five, three of which are gold.

Mongolia has so far claimed a total of nine medals, including two golds.

Japanese Nami Nabekura won the women's 63kg category, while Gili Sharir of Israel took the silver and the bronze medals went to Brigitta Varga from Hungary and Kamila Badurova who participated in the event as a neutral athlete under the flag of the International Judo Federation (IJF).

Another neutral athlete Madina Taimazova defeated Japanese Yoko Ono in the women's 70kg final, and Miriam Butkereit from German and Gulnoza Matniyazova from Uzbekistan shared the bronze.

On men's part, Makhmadbek Makhmadbekov of the IJF beat local favorite Tsend-Ochir Tsogtbaatar in the 73kg gold medal contest, with Tohar Butbul from Israel and Obidkhon Nomonov from Uzbekistan taking bronze.

South Korean Lee Joonhwan won the gold in the men's 81kg category, Austria's Shamil Borchasvili took the silver, and Frank de Wit from the Netherlands and Takanori Nagase from Japan settled for the bronze medals.

The 2022 Ulan Bator Grand Slam, which is scheduled to run through to Sunday, is the first qualifying round for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and has a total prize fund of 154,000 euros.