The men’s 60kg category in Judo concluded today with Japan clinching their first gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Naohisa Takato defeated Chinese Taipei’s Yung Wei Yang to take his first gold medal at the Games.

Kazakhstan’s Yeldos Smetov and France’s Luka Mkheidze clinched the two bronze medals of the category.

Naohisa Takato clinches golden score victory at Tokyo Olympics 2020

During the day, World No. 4 Takato defeated some of the toughest judokas in the world. One of his toughest battles was against Seldov in the semifinals, which included a golden score round that lasted seven minutes.

On the other hand, Yung Wei Yang made history when he defeated Mkheidze in the semifinals. With his victory, he confirmed Chinese Taipei’s first medal in their Olympic history irrespective of the result of his final match with Takato.

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Although the final had both competitors start well, neither could make a breakthrough. Two minutes into the bout, both competitors received one penalty each, and the round eventually ended scoreless. Heading into the golden score round, Naohisa displayed moments of exhaustion in the round.

However, the 28-year-old held his composure as his younger opponent received two more penalties in the round. Although the 23-year-old missed out on making Chinese Taipei’s first Olympic medal gold, expect him to climb from his current World No. 11 ranking in the coming days.

As for Takato, he sealed Japan’s first gold medal at their home Olympics and second medal after Funa Tonaki’s silver in the women’s 48kg category. In addition, he also improved on his bronze medal from the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Smetov wins bronze despite receiving a slight cut to his eye

During his bout with Takato, Smetov suffered a minor cut to his right eye. Although the team doctor could fix it up and put a bandage, the 2016 silver medalist lost to Takato in the semifinal. However, he went through a tough match with Netherlands’ Tornike Tsjakadoea to win a bronze medal in Tokyo.

Although the match went to golden score, the World No. 5 took just 47 seconds in the round to clinch the match with a Waza-Ari. Frenchman Mkheidze defeated South Korea’s Won Jin Kim in anti-climactic fashion to take the second bronze medal.

Despite the match going to golden score, the South Korean received three penalties during the bout. This handed the World No. 20 victory and a spot on the podium after a difficult loss to Yang in the semifinal.

Tokyo Olympics 2020 DAY 1: World Number 3 Suffers a Shock Defeat in Judo Championships