INQUIRER Sports

TOKYO?Towering French judoka Teddy Riner won the gold medal for a third straight time with Japan taking two titles and the United States one at the world judo championships on Thursday.

Riner, who finished with a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, threw European bronze medallist Andreas Toelzer of Germany for a yuko in two minutes 11 seconds and went on to keep the lead in the men's over 100-kilogram final.

Riner eliminated South Korea's Kim Soo-Whan, Taiwan's Lin Yu-heng, Dmitriy Sterkhov of Russia, Rafael Silva of Brazil and Kazuhiko Takahashi of Japan on his way to the final.

The Guadeloupe-born 21-year-old Riner also hopes to retain the unlimited open-class title on the final day on Monday, aiming to become the first man to win five gold medals.

His compatriot Matthieu Bataille, who lost to Toelzer in the semi-finals, came back to survive the repechage to win the bronze medal, beating Silva. Islam El Shehaby of Egypt took the other bronze.

At last year's championships, the Japanese men failed to win any gold medals but grabbed one silver and one bronze. Japan's women saved some of the country's pride in their native sport by winning three golds and two bronzes.

On the first day of the five-day competition, Japan have already won the men's 100kg class through Takamasa Anai and the women's over-78kg class through Mika Sugimoto.

Anai, who had to be satisfied with bronze in the 2009 worlds, defeated 2007 bronze medallist Oreydi Despaigne of Cuba in the semi-finals before beating Beijing Olympic bronze medallist Henk Grol of the Netherlands by a yuko.

Sugimoto wrested the women's over-78 kg title from China for the first time in six meet championships when she easily defeated Qin Qian in the final, securing victory by an ippon.

Earlier in the day, US national champion Kayla Harrison claimed the first gold medal when she defeated Mayra Aguiar of Brazil to win the women's under-78 kilogram title.

Harrison, who defeated 2001 open-class world champion Celine Lebrun of France in the quarter-finals to pick up momentum, went on to win the final by beating the Pan American champion.

Harrison received a penalty for her passivity, but overcame the deficit at the last moment by throwing Aguiar down for a yuko point.

She also defeated world silver medallist Maryna Pryshchepa of Ukraine in the semi-finals.