Daily Times

RIO DE JANEIRO: Mashu Baker and Haruka Tachimoto made it a golden double for Japan on Wednesday at the Rio Olympic judo tournament. Four years on from Japan’s disastrous London Games, the country that gave judo to the world is now top of the sport’s medals table in Rio with two days left. “The Japanese long for the gold medal so we have to perform graciously and courageously – we have to win the gold medal,” said Tachimoto. Shohei Ono had got them off the golden mark on Monday by winning the men’s under-73kg while all bar one of the 10 fighters to compete so far have finished on the podium. In London, Japan managed just one gold medal through Kaori Matsumoto – who won bronze on Monday – in the women’s under-57kg division. The failure of the men’s team to win a gold was a national embarrassment. “The place where we can show how strong we are is not international tournaments or even the world championships, it’s the Olympic Games,” said Baker, whose father is American but who was brought up by a single Japanese mother. “My head coach (Sydney 2000 gold medallist Kosei Inoue) told us that and we knew it.”

‘Refreshed mind’: First Tachimoto stunned three-time world champion Yuri Alvear of Colombia to win the women’s under-73kg title before Baker, whose first name is a Japanised version of Mathew, edged out Varlam Liparteliani of Georgia in the men’s under-90kg. The 26-year-old Tachimoto, who had never before won a major individual medal, countered Alvear’s hip throw attempt with a rear take-down and then pinned her opponent for the maximum ippon score. She said getting away from Japan after her London disappointment – she finished seventh – had given her a new lease of life. “I tried to change my surroundings, I travelled to England and Mongolia to try something completely new,” she said. “When I was abroad it refreshed my mind.”

In the semi-final, world number 14 Tachimoto had come up against Germany’s Laura Vagas Koch. The German had won a silver medal when the world championships were in Rio three years ago, but Tachimoto threw her for a half point waza-ari score with a major outer reap and then controlled the remainder of the contest. Tachimoto had earlier beaten Zhou Chao of China and then sneaked past world number one Kim Polling of the Netherlands before defeating Canada’s Kelita Zupancic in the quarters. Vargas Koch came back to claim a bronze medal alongside surprise-package Sally Conway of Britain, who had stunned three-time world champion Gevrise Emane of France in the second round. Baker produced an industrious and determined performance before finally wearing down China’s Cheng Xunzhao in his semi-final, throwing him to the ground and then pinning him for the maximum ippon score. He had also beaten his first three opponens by ippon. Liparteliani upset world champion and world number one Gwak Dong-Han with a series of unorthodox techniques typical of the former Soviet bloc in the other semi-final. Contorting himself into awkward positions, the Georgian powerhouse managed to twice force Gwak over his hip and onto his back, each time scoring a half-point waza-ari, adding up to an ippon win. But Baker was wise to Liparteliani’s suffocating gripping and used nimble footwork to avoid the Georgian’s dangerous hip throws. He then struck with a swift inner reap to score a minimum yuko, the only score of the final. “The best thing is to win by ippon but knowing the big difference between gold and silver, perhaps I fought defensively,” admitted Baker. Gwak ducked under Sweden’s Marcus Nyman to throw him for ippon with a shoulder throw to win bronze. Cheng came through a tight encounter with Lkhagvasuren Otgonbaatar of Mongolia to win the other bronze medal.