IJF Rio de Janeiro Grand Slam

The first Grand Slam of the 2012 Olympic Qualification period received the entries from four Olympic Champions, 18 world champions and 21 Olympic medalists.

The IJF Rio de Janeiro Grand Slam brought together 358 athletes from 40 countries. The Maracanazinho sports hall, one of the venues for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, received an amazing boisterous crowd of over eight thousand people, who sang and shout from the very first minute in a true Brazilian atmosphere. The IJF Rio de Janeiro Grand Slam shared US $150,000 prize money among the winners.

In the Men's +100kg division, Japanese judoka Kazuhiko Takahahi beat German Andreas Toelzer in the finals.Takahashi had to beat his fellow countrymen and Olympic champion Kenji Suzuki in the semifinal in a very balanced match. Takahashi is the 2010 Japanese national champion and was bronze medalist in the IJF Suwon Masters 2010.

In the -100kg class, Dutch turned Belgium Elco Van Der Geest picked up his second consecutive win in the Rio de Janeiro Grand Slam. In 2009, Van Der Geest beat Brazilian Luciano Correa (world champion 2007) for gold. This time around he defeated Japanese star Takamasa Anai by ippon in less than 15 seconds of combat. At the age of 31, the veteran Van de Geest won the Paris Grand Slam earlier this year and is the current European Champion (Vienna 2010).

25-year old Japanese Hiroaki Hiraoka finally was back on the top of the podium after winning the -60kg division. He's been close the past five World Circuit events placing as runner-up in Grand Prix Düsseldorf, IJF Masters Suwon, Grand Slam Tokyo, World Championships Rotterdam and Grand Slam Rio 2009. “I am very happy. The Grand Slam Tokyo was not good for me but judo is practice and I train hard every day to win”, says Hiraoka, who is back to the top of the World Ranking List, leaving both Georgii Zantaraia (UKR) and Rishob Sobirov (UZB) a few points behind.

Full Results