Hifumi Abe learned to win his last match

Another victory for Japan at the Grand Prix in Tashkent. Teenage prodigy Abe Hifumi of Japan gave another mesmerising showcase on the World Judo Tour as he beat Qingdao Grand Prix bronze medallist Ma Duanbin (CHN) by ippon in the U66kg final in just 36 seconds courtesy of an osoto-gari. The 18-year-old won all five fights by ippon and did not give up a single score as he continues to raise his performance level with every outing and has judo fans and the media in awe over his incredible potential.

The male Chinese judoka seemed to develop well and can become dangerous outsiders in a few years. This was another prove today in Tashkent. In the first semi-final Ma defeated top seed Dzmitry Shershan of Belarus in osaekomi as the latter submitted while in the second semi-final ABE overwhelmed Dovdon by scoring a yuko, waza-ari, yuko and then ippon at the halfway point.

The first bronze medal was won by Dovdon Altansukh (MGL) who sent Vazha Margvelashvili (GEO) over with a sumi-gaeshi for ippon after two minutes to win his country’s second medal on day one in Uzbekistan. The second bronze medal went to world number six Shershan (BLR) who salvaged a place on the podium despite his semi-final humbling as he held down world number 31 Adrian Gomboc (SLO) for 20 seconds in his last and most rewarding contest of the day.