Zakiyev, a Paralympic gold medallist at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008, was aiming to retain his European crown but came unstuck against Basoc in a tense final at the Rotterdam Ahoy.

Basoc made his presence felt in the early stages as Zakiyev received two shidos.

The match was on a knife edge when Basoc picked up a second penalty but the Moldovan kept his composure to send Zakiyev crashing to the floor 10 seconds into golden score to seal victory.

"I still can’t believe I am the European champion," said Basoc.

"My opponent has lots of titles and I have lost to him a few times so for me it was very important to win this time.

"It was really tough but I won this time."

There was disappointment for the home crowd as Turkey’s Onur Tastan left Dutch favourite Daniel Knegt needing medical assistance after producing a brilliant throw in the final minute of their bronze-medal bout.

The other podium place went to Jason Grandry of France who notched an ippon in his victory over Theoklitos Papachristos of Greece.

Oleg Crețul secured another gold for Moldova after overcoming reigning Commonwealth Games champion Daniel Powell of Britain in the J1 men’s over-90kg final.

It was a tightly contested clash as they battled for the upper hand before Powell went down holding his knee after failing to catch Crețul with a leg sweep.

Both judoka threatened to get a decisive waza-ari in golden score before Crețul emerged victorious after Powell received a disqualification.

"It's my fifth European title and I am very happy," said Crețul.

"It's important for me to show that through the years I still belong to the best of Europe in judo."

It took Yasin Cimciler of Turkey fewer than 10 seconds to score a waza-ari before adding another to see off Georgia’s Giorgi Beridze for bronze.

In the other bronze-medal match, Ukraine’s Eduard Tropinov dominated Sweden’s Oscar Widegren, throwing him on to his back for an ippon.

Reigning world champion Döndü Yeşilyurt of Turkey claimed the J1 women’s under-57kg title with victory over Ukraine’s Anna Havrysiuk.

The Turkish fighter came flying out of the traps, overpowering Havrysiuk for a waza-ari in the first 30 seconds.

Havrysiuk, the defending European champion, was not to be undone as she floored her opponent to level the scores.

It was thrilling tussle before Yeşilyurt sealed victory when she got Havrysiuk into a hold with 90 seconds remaining.

Maria Manzanero Ruiz of Spain scored an ippon inside the opening 12 seconds to defeat Vanessa Wagner of Germany in the first bronze-medal match.

Flóra Burányi of Hungary overcame Ina Cernei of Moldova to seal the other place on the podium courtesy of an ippon.

The last title of the day was won by France’s Hélios Latchoumanaya who defeated Oleksandr Nazarenko of Ukraine in the J2 men’s under-90kg gold-medal match.

It was a battle of the two Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists, with Latchoumanaya coming out on top after pinning Nazarenko down for a waza-ari in the final minute.

Britain’s Evan Molloy and Georgia’s Lasha Kizilashvili both scored ippons in their triumphs against Simone Cannizzaro of Italy and Dmytro Solovey of Ukraine respectively in their bronze-medal bouts.  

Earlier, there were further golds for Greece, Georgia, Ukraine, France and Azerbaijan following the outcome of this morning’s round-robin matches.

Theodora Paschalidou of Greece triumphed in the J1 women’s under-70kg category, with Uslu Merve of Turkey taking silver.

Revaz Chikoidze of Georgia came out on top in the J2 men’s over-90kg division as Chris Skelley of Britain sealed silver.

Another Briton in Jack Hodgson also claimed a medal with bronze along with Ibrahim Bolukbasi of Turkey.

Anastasiia Harnyk of Ukraine captured the J1 women’s over-70kg category, with Nazan Akin Gunes of Turkey and Khatira Ismiyeva of Azerbaijan claiming silver and bronze respectively.

Khanim Huseynova delivered gold for Azerbaijan with victory in the J2 women’s under-70kg division, overcoming the challenge of Ina Kaldani of Georgia.

There was also success for France with Prescillia Leze clinching the J2 women’s over-70kg crown.

Dursadaf Karimova of Azerbaijan bagged silver, with Kirsten Taylor of Britain earning bronze.

Competition is due to continue tomorrow with the final day of judo action.