Hifumi Abe booked his place in the Tokyo Olympics next summer with a yusei win in a grueling 24-minute bout against reigning world champion Joshiro Maruyama on Sunday in the men's 66-kg division playoff.
The unprecedented one-off showdown at the Kodokan Judo Institute pitted Maruyama against Abe, who won back-to-back world titles in 2017 and 2018.
Having come through as a star of his generation, the 23-year-old Abe joins his younger sister Uta, who will represent Japan in the women's 52-kg class at the Olympics.