World Judo Championships set to begin as Olympic qualification race hots up

Leading Japanese athletes to test Tokyo 2020 credentials in men's competition

Tokyo 2020 berths are on the line as the World Judo Championships take place next week (6-13 June) in Budapest, Hungary. It is the final event that will offer Olympic ranking points before the Summer Games begin on July 23, with the top 18 judokas in the world across weight categories (come June 28, 2021) claiming a spot in Tokyo.

In the men's competition, Olympic hosts Japan will be hoping to show their strength-in-depth with less than 50 days to go until the Opening Ceremony of Tokyo 2020.

The -60kg favourite is NAGAYAMA Ryuju, bronze medallist at the 2019 (Tokyo) and 2018 (Baku) World Championships. The 25-year-old judoka has not lost to any non-Japanese athlete since his 2019 defeat to Lukhumi Chkhvimiani of Georgia, who will not be competing in Budapest.

HASHIMOTO Soichi will be top seed in the -73kg competition and looking to cement his position as no. 1 in the world. With one individual world championship gold medal already to his name (Budapest 2017) – as well as three mixed team golds – the 29-year-old from Tokyo will be hoping to triumph once again as he returns to the scene of his greatest victory.

At only 20-years-old, MURAO Sanshiro has already developed a reputation as one of the strongest -90kg contenders on the planet. In early May, Murao took gold in the Grand Slam in Kazan, beating Germany's Eduard Trippel in the final by ippon. He will, however, face strong opposition from former World Champion, Nikoloz Sherazadishvili of Spain, with the Georgia-born judoka hoping to double up on the World Championships gold he won in Baku, 2018.

Back in October 2020, the Spanish hopeful made clear his intentions to add Olympic gold to his collection in Tokyo this year.

"We're giving our all to go (to Tokyo) and win. We have no other mentality – the objective is to end up as champions," he said in an interview with Olympics.com.

France's two-time Olympic gold medallist and 10-time World Champion, Teddy Riner will not be competing in Budapest, leaving the door open for KAGEURA Kokoro to stake his claim for a +100kg gold medal, having ended Riner's 10-year unbeaten run at last year's Paris Grand Slam. He will face stiff competition from ROC's Tamerlan Bashaev, winner of the 2020 European Championships that took place in Prague.

France's Agbegnenou a clear favourite as Deguchi faces all-Canada test

With four world titles already to her name, Clarisse Agbegnenou will be a clear favourite in the -63kg category in Hungary. The Rio 2016 silver medallist, who also has six European titles to her name, will be eager to show her best form with the chance to fight for Summer Olympic gold looming on the horizon.

The -57kg category sees Canada's Christa Deguchi installed as top seed. The world no. 1, who was born in Nagano, Japan but switched allegiance to Canada in 2017, spoke to Tokyo 2020 last year about her ambitions for this year's Olympics.

“Of course my goal is to win Canada’s first-ever judo gold medal but I don’t think I am the favourite," she said at the time. "The -57kg category is one of the toughest divisions in judo. I will have to be at my best to accomplish my goal.”

If she is to triumph in Budapest, Deguchi may have to navigate her way past compatriot Jessica Klimkait, the no. 2 seed in the competition. However, don't rule out the challenge of Japan's 26-year-old TAMAOKI Momo, silver medallist at the 2019 Judo World Masters and twice mixed team World Championships gold medallist.

The strength of French judokas will be further put to the test in the -78kg category, where World Champion Madeleine Malonga is favourite, and -70kg, where the top pick for victory is Marie Eve Gahie. Meanwhile, the number one seed in the highest weight category, +78kg, is Cuba's former Olympic champion Idalys Ortiz, who has medalled at the past three editions of the Games, winning silver in Rio, gold in London and bronze in Beijing.

The Tokyo 2020 judo competition takes place between 24-31 July 2021 in the legendary Nippon Budokan.