Tokyo Olympics: Naohisa Takato claims Japan's first gold with judo win

Takato beat Taiwan's Yang Yung-wei in the men's 60kg judo final on Saturday.

Naohisa Takato claimed the first gold medal for Japan at Tokyo Olympics after winning the men's 60kg judo final.

Naohisa Takato won Japan’s first gold medal at its home Olympics, beating Taiwan's Yang Yung-wei in the men’s 60-kilogram judo final on Saturday night.

Kosovo’s Distria Krasniqi beat Japan’s Funa Tonaki in the women’s 48-kilogram final less than an hour before Takato made sure his team wouldn’t have a double heartbreak on the opening day of competition in its beloved homegrown martial art.

READ MORE: Kosovo's Krasniqi denies Japan's Tonaki, wins judo gold

Takato won his final three bouts in sudden-death golden score, but he took the final a bit anticlimactically after Yang committed too many fouls.

The charismatic Takato’s success — and Tonaki’s heartbreaking, last-minute defeat — could provide a much-needed jolt of excitement for a nation still feeling profoundly ambivalent about these Olympics and discouraged by the scandals and coronavirus setbacks surrounding them.