The 2019 World Judo Championships are going full throttle in Tokyo, Japan – the home country of the beautiful sport.
More than 800 judokas from 6 continents and 148 countries are competing for the silverware that will put their names in the history books and will give them additional Olympic ranking points.
The Championships kicked off yesterday with the lightest men and women (- 60 kg for males and -48 kg for females). In the under 60 kilograms category, Lukhumi Chkhvimiani (Georgia) claimed the gold medal following his victory over Sharafuddin Lutfillaev (Uzbekistan). Meanwhile, Daria Bilodid (Ukraine) was crowned champion in the women under 48 kilograms division after she defeated Funa Tonaki from Japan.
Day 2 started with the bouts in the -66 kg among men and -52 kg among women.
It was all about the host country, as Japan won it’s first two gold medals. Joshiro Maruyama (-66 kg) defeated Limhwan Kim (South Korea). Minutes before that, Uta Abe (-57 kg) had beaten Natalia Kuziutina (Russia), defending her 2018 world title from Baku, Azerbaijan.
The successive categories are -73 kg among men and -57 kg among women.