BUDAPEST, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Japan won three out of five gold medals while hosts Hungary and Belgium each bagged one on the first day of the International Judo Federation (IJF) Grand Slam Hungary 2022 competition here on Friday.
Japan's Funa Tonaki, silver medalist of Tokyo Olympics, won the first final of the day in the women's 48kg, by pinning down her Spanish opponent Julia Figueroa who won in the Madrid European open last month. The two bronze medals went to Mireia Lapuerta Comas of Spain and Baasankhuu Bavuudorj of Mongolia.
Two time gold medalist of Paris Grand Slam Haruka Funakubo of Japan beat Rafaela Silva of Brazil to win the women's 57kg, while the bronze medal went to Canadian Jessica Klimkait and Timna Nelson Levy from Israel.
Hifumi Abe added the third gold for Japan as he won the men's 66kg when Japan top the medal table.
Hungarian fans cheered wildly at the victory of their judoka Reka Pupp, who managed to beat Italian rival Giulia Carna in the women's 52kg final. In the men's 60kg, Belgian Jorre Verstraeten pocketed the gold medal.
The Grand Slam is one of the highlights of the sport's most prestigious series, the World Judo Tour. This year's Grand Slam in Budapest will be an Olympic qualification competition. ■
