London - AFP
Urska Zolnir of Slovakia turned the tide on Japan's judo domination Saturday at the Grand Slam tournament as she defeated former world champion Yoshie Ueno. Zolnir, who eliminated Miki Tanaka of Japan in the semi-finals, went on to win the women's 63-kilogramme final scoring a yuko. Japan, who monopolized four titles on the first day Friday, still collected four more titles on offer on Saturday. Hiroyuki Akimoto, who defeated defending champion and fellow Japanese Riki Nakaya in the semi-finals, scored a waza ari to beat Mansur Isaev of Russia in the men's 73kg final. Tomohiro Kawakami defeated Leandro Guilheiro of Brazil by an ippon to win the men's 81kg class, while Masashi Nishiyama edged past Asley Gonzalez of Cuba to defend the men's 90kg final. In the all-Japanese women's 57kg final, former world champion Kaori Matsumoto defeated current world champion Aiko Sato by a yuko.