Misato Nakamura defeated Laura Gomez in the 52-kg final as Japan struck gold in all four women’s weight categories on the opening day of the Masters in South Korea on Saturday.
Nakamura won all of her matches by ippon while Yoshie Ueno scored an ippon win over local favorite Kong Ja Young in the 63-kg final at the tournament featuring the world’s top judoka.
Asami Haruna took out Tomoko Fukumi in the 48-kg semifinals before going on to beat another Japanese rival, Kaori Kondo, in the final. Kaori Matsumoto beat Nae Udaka in another all-Japanese final in the 57-kg division.
Hiroaki Hiraoka was the hosts’ best performer in the men’s events, finishing runnerup to Uzbekistan’s Rishod Sobirov in the 60-kg final.
Men and women from 14 weight divisions were invited to join the two-day $200,000 event at Suwon Indoor Stadium.