Takeshi Sasaki, Saki Niizoe and Kenta Nagasawa won gold at the International Judo FederationтАЩs Paris Grand Slam on Sunday, as Japan finished the tournament on top of the medal table.
Sasaki captured the menтАЩs 81-kilogram title with five straight ippon victories, culminating with a win over Georgian world No. 1 Tato Grigalashvili in the final at AccorHotels Arena.
Niizoe also bested a world No. 1 on her way to the womenтАЩs 70-kg crown, pinning CroatiaтАЩs Barbara Matic in the title bout.
Nagasawa outpointed Russian Khusen Khalmurzaev in the menтАЩs 90-kg final, executing the decisive waza-ari in the dying seconds of regulation.
Rika Takayama received silver after losing the womenтАЩs 78-kg final to Russian Aleksandra Babintseva, while Sotaro Fujiwara and Yoko Ono took menтАЩs 81-kg and womenтАЩs 70-kg bronze, respectively.
The Japanese team, which did not include any participants from this summerтАЩs Tokyo Olympics, finished the 50th edition of the IJF event with seven gold, two silver and two bronze.
The Grand Slam marked a successful debut competition for new menтАЩs head coach Keiji Suzuki. The former Olympic and double world champion replaced Kosei Inoue, who retired after nine years in the role, earlier this month.
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