Georgii Zantaraia proved too strong for the opposition in the men's under 66kg category ©Getty Images

Ukraine’s Georgii Zantaraia gave substance to his top seed status by claiming the men’s under 66 kilogram title on day one of the International Judo Federation (IJF) Grand Prix in Zagreb.

Zantaraia overcame Germany’s Sebastian Seidl in the gold medal match, while Israel’s Golan Pollack and Turkey’s Sinan Sandal took the bronze medals after beating Great Britain’s Nathon Burns and Israel’s Baruch Shmailov respectively.

Meanwhile in the men’s under 60kg category, Mongolia’s Kherlen Ganbold had to settle for a bronze medal despite heading into the competition as favourite. 

Defeat to Armenia’s Hovhannes Davtyan, who went on to beat Germany’s Tobias Englmaier in the gold medal match, condemned Ganbold to a bronze medal encounter with Brazil’s Phelipe Pelim.

The other bronze medal went to Spain’s Francisco Garrigos, after he beat Portugal’s Nuno Carvalho.

On the women’s side, the under 52kg category went to form as Romania’s Andreea Chitu overcame Russia’s Yulia Ryzhova in the gold medal match.

In the bronze medal matches, Poland’s Agata Perenc got the better of Italy’s Odette Giuffrida, while Kosovo’s Distria Krasniqi saw off France’s Annabelle Euranie.

Romania's Andreea Chitu lived up to expectations in the women's under 52kg category
Romania's Andreea Chitu lived up to expectations in the women's under 52kg category ©Getty Images

Guinea-Bissau’s Taciana Lima-Balde, who was widely tipped for success, failed to make the podium in the women’s under 48kg category, which was won by Turkey’s Dilara Lokmanhekim at the expense of compatriot Ebru Sahin.

Russia’s Irina Dolgova and Italy’s Valentina Moscatt claimed the bronze medals, with the former defeating France’s Scarlett Gabrielli and the latter beating Spain’s Julia Figueroa.

As for the women’s under 57kg category, Great Britain’s Nekoda Smythe Davis outdid the United States’ Marti Malloy to triumph in the gold medal match.

Completing the podium were Germany’s Johanna Mueller and Austria’s Tina Zeltner who won their respective bronze medal matches against Romania’s Corina Caprioriu and Slovenia’s Andreja Leski.

The action in Zagreb continues tomorrow with the women’s under 63kg and under 70kg categories, and the men’s under 73kg and under 81kg classes.

Watch the latest action on Judo TV here


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