Takamasa Anai scored a decisive "yuko" point against Satoshi Ishii on Sunday to win his first title in the 100-kilogram final at the Kano Cup international judo tournament.
Anai and Ishii gripped at each other for leverage but Anai emerged the winner of the all-Japanese battle when he sent his opponent tumbling to the mat with his trademark "uchimata" inner-thigh leg technique after 2 minutes, 9 seconds to claim a victory on points at Nippon Budokan.
"I wanted to breed fear in my opponent," said Anai. "The main thing was I wanted to win and have this be a result that showed my mental strength," said Anai.
In other action, 2005 open-weight world bronze medalist Yohei Takai threw down Hiroaki Takahashi, scoring an ippon with an "osotogari" outer-leg sweep, to take his first over 100-kg crown while 2003 world champion Hwang Hee Tae won a close match for the 90-kg title.
Athens Olympic 81-kg gold medalist Ilias Iliadis of Greece, who moved up a class to 90 kg, made a shock exit from the tournament when he lost in his first match.