Judo: Dominant Murao, Tanaka capture maiden golds at worlds
KYODO NEWS - 19 hours ago - 13:29 | Sports, All
Sanshiro Murao won his maiden judo world championships title in an all-Japanese final on Tuesday, with Shiho Tanaka joining her compatriot in also triumphing for the first time.
Paris Olympics silver medalist Murao stormed to the men's 90-kilogram final with four straight ippon wins in Budapest. He drew three shido penalties in overtime in the final from compatriot and last year's world champion Goki Tajima to secure the title.
"I was focused on things I had to do," said Murao, whose foot-throwing techniques shone throughout the day as he outclassed Paris bronze medalist Maxime-Gael Ngayap Hambou of France in the last eight and Georgian Luka Maisuradze, the 2023 world champion, in the semifinals.
The 24-year-old Murao, whose mother is from the United States, reveled in the win after he was left devastated last summer in Paris following a closely contested final loss to Georgian Lasha Bekauri, who won back-to-back Olympic golds.
"This was a tournament I wanted to become the world champion whatever it took," Murao said. "I came in putting myself under pressure, thinking that I can't win at the Los Angeles Olympics if I can't win on a big stage like this. I put on my best performance."
Tanaka, like Murao, became world champion in her third tournament appearance after the 26-year-old toppled the world's top-ranked judoka Lara Cvjetko of Croatia in the women's 70-kg final, grabbing a yuko in overtime with her own foot-throwing skill.
"I wanted to produce aggressive judo and that led to the win," said Tanaka, who reached the top after coming back from a severe right knee injury suffered on her tournament debut in 2022.
"I was in a state where I couldn't tell if I would ever be able to compete in judo again. I hit rock bottom," she said. "I've given my all thinking I can only get the payback by winning at worlds."
Japan has won a total of six gold medals at the ongoing worlds, the most since winning seven in 2018.
Related coverage:
Judo: Uta Abe back on top with women's 52-kg worlds gold in Hungary
Judo: Ryuju Nagayama wins men's 60-kg gold on opening day of world c'ships
Judo: Kagawa wins 1st nat'l open-weight title, Abe loses in 2nd round
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