Japan’s Nagase retains judo title, Leski wins gold for Slovenia at Paris Olympics

PARIS (Agencies): Japan’s Takanori Nagase retained the Olympic under 81kg judo title he won in Tokyo three years ago before Andreja Leski triumphed in the women’s under 63kg final to hand Slovenia its first gold medal of the Paris Games on Tuesday. Nagase, a bronze medallist in Rio eight years ago, was already a point up when he secured a victory by ippon over three-times world champion Tato Grigalashvili of Georgia after two minutes, 48 seconds of the contest. In front of a crowd mainly composed of locals hoping for a first judo gold for France, Nagase at first showed little emotion before finally waving to the audience when the speaker announced that he was now a double Olympic champion. Leski had already disappointed another packed house at Champ-de-Mars Arena by beating French reigning champion Clarisse Agbegnenou 1-0 in the semi-finals of the women’s competition.

The European champion went on to take out Mexican Prisca Awiti Alcaraz by ippon to clinch her country’s second Olympic judo gold following Urska Zolnir in the same class in London in 2012. “I said to myself, ‘I have five fights left’, I just go all in and enjoy,” Leski said. “I will explode from joy. It’s historic for Slovenia.” Just 15 seconds before the gong in the semi-final, the Slovenian had swiped her opponent’s feet from under her and forced Agbegnenou on her shoulder. Officials used video refereeing to confirm the decision of a waza-ari, stunning a crowd that has yet to celebrate a home judo gold at the Paris Games after four days of competition. Agbegnenou, who had beaten Leski twice in world championship finals, managed to recover in time to claim bronze, winning by ippon against Lubjana Piovesana of Austria. After her win, she made a heart sign with her fingers to the crowd, who gave her a lengthy standing ovation. The six-times world champion shared a moment in front of the stands with her two-year-old child, Athena, and being comforted by her teammates as well as France’s Sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera. Laura Fazliu of Kosovo won the other bronze, while South Korean Lee Joon-hwan and Somon Makhmadbekov of Tajikistan won the bronzes in the men’s competition.