As the wider judo community celebrated World Judo Day, the world’s elite were firmly focused on competition.

Junior European Championships bronze medallist Astride Gneto was the first French athlete to take gold as she was successful in under 52 kilogram competition.

Gneto is the younger sister of London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Priscilla Gneto but it was the younger sibling who achieved her first major honour as a senior fighter today.

The 20-year-old came into the contest boasting a better head-to-head record over top seed and Rio 2016 Olympian Angelica Delgado and improved it once again by claiming an ippon win.

The first bronze medal was clinched by Jessica Pereira of Brazil after she tapped out Poland's Karolina Pienkowska.

The second bronze medal was won by Great Britain's Kelly Edwards, who defeated Junior European Championships bronze medallist Tihea Topolovec of Croatia.

France's second victory of the day arrived when World Judo Masters silver medallist Helene Receveaux defeated Madrid European Open bronze medallist Theresa Stoll of Germany to win the under 57kg.

Receveaux has a point to prove after she was left at home for Rio 2016 by France in favour of London 2012 bronze medallist Automne Pavia.

She appears to have swiftly moved on from that disappointment, though, seeing off Stoll after 51 seconds with a shime-waza for the gold medal.

The first bronze medal was won by German Johanna Mueller as she defeated Luxembourg’s Manon Durbach.

Another Frenchwoman, Lola Benarroche, took the second bronze medal, defeating Serbian Jovana Rogic.

One of those returning to action this week for the first time after Rio 2016 was Olympic bronze medallist Otgontsetseg Galbadrakh of Kazakhstan.

She took very little time to shake off any rust, winning the gold medal in the women’s under 48kg competition.

Galbadrakh won her second career Grand Slam gold medal with a fine display in the lightest women's weight category.

The 24-year-old defeated Zagreb Grand Prix winner Milica Nikolic of Serbia with an ippon in the final to continue her rich vein of form. 

The bronze medals were won by Nathalia Brigida of Brazil and Urantsetseg Munkhbat of Mongolia, who overcame Spain's Julia Figueroa and 19-year-old Sephora Corcher of France respectively.

In the first of only two men's events today Spain's Francisco Garrigos produced an inspired performance.

The 21-year-old won all three of his contests to win his first Grand Slam gold medal in the under 60kg competition.

Garrigos lost in round three here a year ago and showed his vast improvement by beating Eric Takabatake of Brazil in the final.

The first bronze medal was won by Russian Albert Oguzov, who eased past 22-year-old Mehman Sadigov of Azerbaijan.

Zagreb Grand Prix bronze medallist Cedric Revol of France took the second with a stunning ippon win over Russia's Robert Mshvidobadze.

Tyumen Grand Slam bronze medallist Yakub Shamilov of Russia won his first Grand Slam gold medal in the under 66kg event.

His oponent in the final was Kazakh Azamat Mukanov, who failed to overturn a 1-0 deficit.

London 2012 Olympic champion Arsen Galstyan of Russia claimed one bronze medal, defeating Portugal’s Sergiu Oleinic after 73 seconds.

The second bronze medal went to Pan American Championships winner Charles Chibana of Brazil, who narrowly edged Slovenian Andraz Jereb by a single yuko score. 

Action is scheduled to take place tomorrow in the women's under 63kg and under 70kg events and men's under 73kg and under 81kg tournaments.

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