Japan and South Korea Dominates Judo World Championships
The second day of the Judo World Championships on Tuesday - in Astana, Kazakhstan - awarded Misato Nakamura of Japan her third world title and An Ba-Ul of South Korea his first.
In 2013, 23-year-old An Ba-Ul won gold medal at the junior level at the 66-kilogram category of the event and received gold this year by winning against Mikhail Pulyaev of Russia.
In the same event, Uzbek Rishod Sobirov and Israel's Golan Pollack won the bronze medal. After losing in 2014 against Masashi Ebinuma of Japan, Pulyaev received his second consecutive silver medal at the said level.
In more than 10 years, 23-year-old Golan Pollack was the first Israeli to receive a medal from the international judo competition, reported The Times Of Israel on Tuesday.
According to an Aug 25 article by Bangkok Post, the opening day of the Judo World Championships had several near misses for South Korea, but An Ba-Ul brought home the country's first gold win for the 2015 championships.
In another finals, Japan Times noted on Tuesday Misato Nakamura won her third world title at the 52-kilogram category with her first and second world titles in 2009-11. Nakamura won her third title after defeating last year's finalist, Romania's Andreea Chitu.
This year's Judo World Championships made 26-year-old Misato Nakamura Japan's third woman to win three titles along with Noriko Anno and Ryoko Tani with four and seven world titles under their belt respectively. In 2008, Nakamura also won a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Bronze medal winners for the category include Darya Skrypnik of Belarus and Erika Miranda or Brazil.
On Wednesday, the tournament features the 57-kilogram women's and 73-kilogram men's division finals.
