Teenage hopeful Hiroyuki Akimoto defeated Athens Olympic gold medalist Masato Uchishiba in an all-Japanese final Saturday to claim the 66-kg title at the Kano Cup international judo tournament.
Akimoto came from an early points deficit to take down Uchishiba for a decisive wazaari" point late in their final at Nippon Budokan in a rematch of the final at last April's national weight-class invitational tournament, in which Akimoto lost on ippon after just 24 seconds.