Games hosts enjoying judo gold rush

The Olympic hosts are having a field day in judo.

When double world champion Chizuru Arai triumphed in the women's -70 kg category on Wednesday night, beating Michaela Polleres of Austria in a gruelling final, she earned Japan's sixth judo gold.

The Japanese team have won judo gold medals for five straight days and are just two short of their record of eight, set in Athens in 2004.

Sanne Van Dijke of Netherlands and Madina Taimazova of the Russian Olympic Committee won the bronze medals.

"As the coronavirus delayed the Olympics, I had a feeling that what I had clinched was slipping away, but my rivals around the world continued training under such circumstances so I tried to keep up with them," said Arai, 27 years old and fifth in the world rankings

"I appreciate the fact that the Games came true thanks to support from many people despite various opinions about going ahead under severe circumstances."

Australia's judo campaign at the Tokyo Games ended when Olympic debutant Aoife Coughlan lost her second-round bout.

The 25-year-old from Melbourne beat Kinaua Biribo of Kiribati under a minute on Wednesday.

But German Giovanna Scoccimarro had her measure in the round of 16, winning in one minute five seconds with an Ippon O-soto-gari throw.

In the men's -90 kg division, Georgian Lasha Bekauri took gold, beating Eduard Trippel of Germany in the final. Davlat Bobonov of Uzbekistan and Krisztian Toth of Hungary took the bronzes.

Japan's Shoichiro Mukai, who had been fancied to do well in the category, suffered a shock loss to Toth in the last 16.