TAKATO NAOHISA | JUDO HIGLIGHTS

Naohisa Takato earned his second straight gold medal and Funa Tonaki picked up a silver to boost Japan into an early lead at the World Judo Championships, which kicked off Thursday. Takato successfully defended his men&under-60 kg weight class title and became a three-time ... Reigning world champions Naohisa Takato and Ai Shishime each won their respective divisions on Friday to give Japan an early lead at the Zagreb Grand Prix, a three-day judo tournament in Croatia. Takato earned a sixth straight win on the International Judo Federation circuit after ... Judoka Naohisa Takato and Funa Tonaki won gold medals in their respective categories, while Ami Kondo settled for bronze as the world championships got underway Monday. Takato, the 2013 world champion and bronze medalist at last year&Rio Olympics, downed Pavel Petrikov of the Czech ... JUDO Rio Games bronze medalist Naohisa Takato won the men&60-kg category at the Grand Slam Paris on Saturday, while fellow Japanese Hifumi Abe and Soichi Hashimoto also claimed the 66- and 73-kg categories, respectively. It was a strong showing by the Japanese men. Takato won ... Grand Slam Paris