The 2018 edition of the IJF World Tour is in Osaka (JPN) for the final Grand Slam event of the season, with a large field of 417 judoka from 70 nations ready at the Maruzen Intec Arena. The top entries include (with their world rankings; * = 2018 World Champion):
Men:
∙ -60 kg: 1. Ryuju Nagayama (JPN: 1) 2. Naohisa Takato* (JPN: 2)
∙ -66 kg: 1. Hifumi Abe* (JPN: 1) 2. Vazha Margvelashvili (GEO: 2)
∙ -73 kg: 1. Lasha Shavdatuashvili (GEO: 2) 2. Tommy Macias (SWE: 4)
∙ -81 kg: 1. Frank de Wit (NED: 2) 2. Matthias Casse (BEL: 8)
∙ -90 kg: 1. Ivan Felipe Silva (CUB: 5) 2. Nemanja Majdov (SRB: 10)
∙ -100 kg: 1. Varlam Liparteliani (GEO; 1) 2. Michael Korrel (NED: 2)
∙ +100 kg: 1. Guram Tushishvili* (GEO: 1) 2. Lukas Krpalek (CZE: 2)
Women:
∙ -48 kg: 1. Urantsetseg Munkhbat (MGL: 2) 2. Funa Tonaki (JPN: 3)
∙ -52 kg: 1. Amandine Buchard (FRA: 1) 2. Uta Abe* (JPN: 2)
∙ -57 kg: 1. Tsukasa Yoshida* (JPN: 1) 2. Sumiya Dorjsuren (MGL: 2)
∙ -63 kg: 1. Tina Trstenjak (SLO: 2) 2. Miku Tashiro (JPN: 3)
∙ -70 kg: 1. Chizuru Arai* (JPN: 1) 2. Maria Portela (BRA: 3)
∙ -78 kg: 1. Shori Hamada* (JPN: 7) 2. Ruika Sato (JPN: 8)
∙ +78 kg: 1. Sarah Asahina* (JPN: 1) 2. Larisa Ceric (BIH: 2)
The Japanese have their “A’ team entered, including seven 2018 World Champions and they will be hard to beat. The prize money is $5,000-3,000-1,500 for the top three placers, with 20% allocated to the coach.
Look for results here.
