South Korean An Ba-ul claimed his first world title and Japan’s Misato Nakamura her third on the second day of the judo world championships in Astana on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old An, a gold medal winner at junior level in 2013, came out on top in the men’s 66kg with a golden score defeat of Russian Mikhail Pulyaev in the final.
Golan Pollack of Israel and Uzbek Rishod Sobirov took bronze.
Photo: AP
This was Pulyaev’s second successive silver medal at this level after his loss in last year’s final to Masashi Ebinuma of Japan in Chelyabinsk.
An, appearing at his first world championships, was winning South Korea’s first gold of this year’s championships after a couple of near misses on the opening day.
In the day’s other final, Nakamura exploited the absence of Kosovo’s Majlinda Kelmendi, the injured queen in the women’s 52kg division, to annex a third world title after 2009 and 2011.
The Tokyo-born judoka saw off Andreea Chitu of Romania with a penalty victory to add to her previous world 52kg titles, which she won in 2009 and 2011.
Brazil’s Erika Miranda and Darya Skrypnik of Belarus took bronze.
The 26-year-old Nakamura had also come away with an Olympic bronze from the 2008 Games in Beijing.
Like Pulyaev in the men Chitu once again had to settle for silver having filled the runner-up position 12 months ago.
Nakamura was winning Japan’s first gold of the year after an opening day which ended with a highest-placed silver picked up by Haruna Asami, beaten by Argentina’s Paula Pareto in the women’s 48kg division.
Yesterday’s third day features finals in the men’s 73kg and women’s 57kg divisions.
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