Japanese judoka Uta Abe triumphed in the women’s 52kg category in Tokyo on Sunday, hours before her brother Hifumi Abe took gold in the men’s 66kg final, making history as the first siblings to win gold medals on the same day.
Uta, 21, dominated her bouts in the 52kg category, but was taken deep into Golden Score overtime in the final against Amandine Buchard of France, eventually pinning her down on her back and holding on for the win.
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In the semifinals, Uta threw Odette Giuffrida of Italy, also in overtime, to clinch a waza-ari victory.
In the round of 16 against Brazil’s Larissa Pimenta, Uta went for a pin to score an ippon victory, and in the quarterfinal a waza-ari was enough to beat Britain’s Chelsie Giles.
The bronze medals went to Odette Giuffrida of Italy and Chelsie Giles of Britain.
In the men’s final, Hifumi Abe, 23, defeated Georgia’s Vazha Margvelashvili to take gold. Bronze medals went to Baul An of South Korea and Daniel Cargnin of Brazil.
Hifumi Abe had thrown Brazil’s Daniel Cargnin to win by ippon — judo’s equivalent of a knockout — in the semifinals.
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Earlier, he made his way through the elimination round of 16 in the 66kg category in a tight bout with Kilian Le Blouch, throwing the French athlete to the tatami mat to score an ippon victory in sudden death overtime.
In the quarterfinals, he saw off Baskhuu Yondonperenlei of Mongolia with a waza-ari.
Defending Olympic champion Majlinda Kelmendi lost by waza-ari in overtime to Reka Pupp of Hungary in the women’s 52kg elimination round of 32. Now 30, Kelmendi became Kosovo’s first Olympic gold medallist in Rio in 2016.
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