Having seen three of their compatriots take top honours earlier in the day, Harasawa and fellow countryman Ryu Shichinohe both went into the last final of the competition aiming to become Japan’s 11th gold medallist at the Grand Slam.

The pair were penalised for passivity after 35 seconds and at the end of the five minutes, both Harasawa and Shichinohe were punished with three shido each, meaning a golden score was required.

After a sequence of several combined attacks from Paris Grand Slam winner Harasawa, the top seeded Shichinohe was penalised for a last time, granting victory to his opponent.

The first bronze medal fight saw Georgia’s Levani Matiashvili lose out to Japan’s Daiki Kamikawa, while the second was won by Ukraine’s Stanislav Bondarenko at the expense of Russia’s Soslan Bostanov.

Japan’s first gold medal of the day came courtesy of Nami Inamori, who defeated Olympic champion, Cuba's Idalys Ortiz, by ippon with an immobilisation in the women’s over 78kg final.

Inamori’s team-mate Wakaba Tomita suffered defeat at the hands of Ukraine’s Iryna Kindzerska in the first bronze medal match, just missing out on a podium place along with France’s Marine Erb who was unable to compete against compatriot Emilie Andeol due to injury.

Mashu Baker brought up Japan’s ninth success overall, despite only being ranked sixth in the world and seeded fifth in the men’s under 90kg category.

The final pitted Baker against the 2013 world champion Asley Gonzalez of Cuba, who has been in good form recently.

Escaping from the grip of his opponent, Gonzalez was penalised with a first shido after less than two minutes and just before the last minute, it was the turn of Baker to be penalised for a false attack with a shido.

When the Cuban was penalised again, Baker took a small advantage that he was able to maintain until the final gong, securing his third Grand Slam gold medal of the season and fourth in total.

Japan’s Daiki Nishiyama fended off the challenge of The Netherlands’ Noel Van T End in the first bronze medal contest before South Korea’s Dong Han Gwak, the current world champion, got the better of Russia’s Kirill Voprosov.

Ryunosuke Haga also earned top honours for Japan by taking the men’s under 100kg crown ahead of South Korea’s Guham Cho, the defending champion.

Nothing but penalties were written on the scoreboard at the end of the five minutes, with three for Cho and only two for world champion Haga, who claimed his first Grand Slam title.

France’s Cyrille Maret beat Georgia’s Beka Gviniashvili to bronze and was joined on the third step of the podium by Azerbaijan’s Elmar Gasimov, victorious against Kazakhstan’s Maxim Rakov.

The only gold medal not to go Japan’s way on the final day of action was the women’s under 78kg as the United States’ Kayla Harrison prevailed.

In the final, the former world champion and reigning Olympic gold medallist was up against The Netherlands’ Guusje Steenhuis, a two-time winner of Grand Slams this season.

Both athletes neutralised themselves for almost three minutes before Steenhuis was penalised with a shido for stepping out of the tatami.

The Dutchwoman subsequently had to take some risks to the benefit of top seed Harrison who scored a yuko on o-uchi-gari.

Great Britain’s Gemma Gibbons took the first bronze medal to the detriment of Japan’s Ruika Sato, whose compatriot Mami Umeki lost out to Slovenia’s Anamari Velensek in the other battle for third-place honours.

Prior to the final block, IJF President Marius Vizer presented Ronaldo Veitia Valdivie, the retiring head coach of Cuba’s national female team, with the IJF plaquette and gold card in recognition of his career achievements.

He had led the team since 1986. 

Under Ronaldo’s leadership, Cuba claimed five Olympic gold medals, nine silvers and 10 bronzes, and a total of 57 world medals in the senior category.

 “I am happy for all the years that I have spent in the service of judo and of my country, even if today I’m a bit sad because this is the end of a fantastic adventure," he said. 

The 2016 World Judo Tour is set to begin in January with the opening event due to be hosted by Cuba’s capital Havana.

To watch the latest action on Judo TV click here. 


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