Tokyo Judo Grand Slam kicks off in style to close the 2023 season

520 judoka from 88 countries took to the tatami mats at the Tokyo Judo Grand Slam on Saturday in a bid for glory. Many athletes are eager to participate in the Japanese flagship event to go for gold and end the Judo World Tour in style, while testing their mettle.

However, this year is of extra importance, as the competitors aim to secure more vital ranking points in the race to qualify for the rapidly approaching Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

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The male competitors were on form, each fighting tooth and nail to make their way through the tournament.

In the under 73kg category, Azerbaijan's Hidayat Heydarov took the gold medal with a fantastic waza-ari in the final against Japan's Soichi Hashimoto, securing him the win.

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On the third step of the podium, stood Italy's Manuel Lombardo and Georgia's Giorgi Terashvili.

All Japan Judo Federation President, Shinichi Nakamura, awarded the medals.

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The under 81kgsline-up for Tokyo GS 2023 boasted no fewer than four World Champions: Matthias Casse from Belgium, Azerbaijan's Saied Mollaei, Israeli Sagi Muki and current Olympic champion, Takanori Nagase from Japan. Though they were all drawn in separate pools, only Casse made it out of the group stages.

In the final, Matthias Casse was up against Korea's Joonhwan Lee, who proved to be a tough challenger. However, a waza-ari score for the Korean ended the Belgian world number two's hopes of standing at the top of the podium, while securing a third grand slam title for the 21-year-old

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In third place