Brazilian Rafaela Silva ended her long wait for a major victory at the IJF Budapest Grand Prix as she struck gold for the first time since the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro ©IJF

Brazil's Rafaela Silva ended her long wait for a major victory as she struck gold for the first time since the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro at the International Judo Federation Budapest Grand Prix.

Silva, whose triumph at Rio 2016 was one of the highlights of the Games, beat Theresa Stoll of Germany in the final of the under-57 kilograms category at the Papp László Budapest Sportaréna in the Hungarian capital.

The 2013 world champion scored a decisive waza-ari in the dying seconds of the gold medal contest to earn her first triumph for two years.

Hedvig Karakas of Hungary and Christa Deguchi of Canada were the recipients of the two bronze medals as they beat Canada's Jessica Klimkait and Nae Udaka of Japan respectively.

Japan dominated the other weight classes staged on the opening day of competition as they claimed the remaining four titles.

Düsseldorf Grand Slam gold medallist Ryuju Nagayama marked his Grand Prix debut in style as he threw Russian opponent Albert Oguzov for waza-ari in the final of the men's under-60kg division.

Russia's Robert Mshvidobadze took the first bronze by defeating Georgian opponent Lukhumi Chkhvimiani.

He was joined on the podium by Amiran Papinashvili of Georgia, who ousted Spain's Francisco Garrigos.

Kenzo Tagawa also clinched victory as he won the men's under-66kg category ©IJF
Kenzo Tagawa also clinched victory as he won the men's under-66kg category ©IJF

Kenzo Tagawa also clinched victory as he won the men's under-66kg category, overcoming surprise finalist and African Championships winner Mohamed Abdelmawgoud of Egypt by ippon in the gold medal bout.

The first bronze medal was earned by Denis Vieru of Moldova following his success over Altansukh Dondova of Moldova, while Bogdan Iadov of Ukraine beat Israel's Yarin Menaged in the other third-place contest.

Natsumi Tsunoda also reigned supreme on her Grand Prix debut as she proved too strong for Belgium's Charline Van Snick in the under-52kg final.

The bronze medals in the category were claimed by Chelsie Giles of Britain and Canadian Ecaterina Guica following their wins over Romanian Andreea Chitu and Israel's Gili Cohen respectively.

Hiromi Endo won an all-Japanese women's under-48kg final, defeating Tamami Yamakazi by a waza-ari score.

Slovenia's Marusa Stangar beat top seed Milica Nikolic of Serbia in the opening bronze medal match.

Kosovo's Distria Krasniqi also ended with a medal after she dispatched Anne Sophie Jura of Belgium.

The event in Budapest is due to continue tomorrow.

You can watch the action on Judo TV here.