Japan's Sanshiro Murao got his Olympic preparations back on track with a gold medal at judo's Antalya Grand Slam on Sunday.
The 23-year-old, who is set to make his Olympic debut this summer in the men's 90-kilogram division, was looking to bounce back in Turkey after exiting February's Paris Grand Slam in a first-round upset.
He scored an impressive ippon victory over former world champion and Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Davlat Bobonov of Uzbekistan in the semifinal to set up a title match with Azerbaijan's Vugar Talibov.
Despite conceding an early point, Murao stayed on the attack throughout the final at Antalya Sports Hall and defeated his opponent with consecutive waza-ari.
Reflecting on his disappointing performance in Paris, Murao said he needed to correct his approach after "naively expecting to win."
"It's been a tough two months since losing at the Paris Grand Slam but I got through it," he said. "I did what was needed and I got the result. This tournament is a building block toward the Paris Olympics."
In other action from the final day in Antalya, Japan's Tatsuru Saito lost a closely fought men's over-100-kg final to France's 11-time world champion Teddy Riner.
In the men's 100-kg division, Japan's Tokyo Olympic champion Aaron Wolf won bronze after advancing through the repechage.
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