At -70kg, Japan’s Saki Niizoe took the top spot, defeating Germany’s Giovanna Scoccimarro in the final; the German claims her first senior world medal. Niizoe had also overcome the defending champion Barbara Matic (CRO) in the semi-final and the Croatian went on to win a bronze medal. The other bronze went to Michaela Polleres (AUT); this was a second world bronze medal for the Austrian.

The travelling Georgians in the crowd at the ABHA arena were treated to an all-Georgian final in the -90kg category, a first for a judo world championship, between Tokyo Olympic champion Lasha Bekauri and twice world bronze medallist Luka Maisuradze. In a repeat of the 2023 Tbilisi Grand Slam final, in which Bekauri emerged the victor, this time it was Maisuradze who struck gold, becoming only the 7th Georgian world champion in history. The bronze medals were won by Sanshiro Murao (JPN) and Marcus Nyman (SWE), their first and second world medals respectively.

With Japan taking a fourth gold medal at these championships, they maintain their two-gold lead at the top of the medal rankings, but the Georgian one-two at -90kg means they jump into 2nd place. With 3 days of competition remaining, it’s likely that only Georgia or France can catch the Japanese, but that will be a tall order.

The penultimate day of the individual competition is just around the corner. The -78kg and -100kg divisions are ready to go. Can you predict the winners? Take part in the Prediction League and watch the fighting as it happens from 11:30 local time on judotv.com.

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