Ranto Katsura doubles Japan’s gold medal haul in Chile

Japanese Katsura Ranto was the outstanding judoka in the U66kg category as he dominated 17-year-old national junior champion Mark Hristov (BUL) in the final. The 16-year-old Japanese judoka was wondering what all the fuss was about as the photographers and audience were left in awe of his array of scoring techniques while he remained cool and collected.

Two waza-ari scores, including an eye-catching uchi-mata, gave him control, but Hristov, 17, never gave up and pulled a waza-ari back before the time ran out on his world title bid. Katsura won Cadet European Cup silver in Bielsko Biala in Poland this year as a successful test of form.

In the first semi-final Hristov won an epic against Cadet European Championships bronze medallist Dmitrii Pridira (RUS). Five minutes of additional time was required to separate the two judoka as they left it all on the tatami. The Bulgarian pulled through as he pinned down his Russian rival for 20 seconds and ippon. In the second semi-final Katsura threw Cadet Balkan Championships silver medallist Bayram Kandemir (TUR) with a picturesque harai-goshi for a waza-ari score as the Japanese made a bullish start. Kandemir struggled to contain the Japanese livewire and was disqualified after receiving his third shido.

The first bronze medal was claimed by 17-year-old Cadet Asian cup winner Dhzamoliddin Abdulloev (TJK) who made Kandemir submit to shime-waza for ippon.

The second bronze medal was captured by the impressive Cadet Pan American Championships bronze medallist Keagan Young (CAN) who saw off Pridira by two waza-ari scores. The Canadian, who was coached on the IJF stage for the first time by Scotland’s James Millar, was good value for his medal return after scoring two ippons and six waza-ari in his five contests to open Canada’s medal account in Santiago.