Murao keeps the 90 kilo title in Baku, and Tsunoda takes a first world gold at 70

Sanshiro Murao kept the men's 90 kilogram world title in Baku on Thursday, beating compatriot Goki Tajima by ippon in an all-Japanese final. He did not concede a score in five matches. On the same day Spain's Ai Tsunoda Roustant won her first senior world title at 70 kilograms, beating Austria's Michaela Polleres in golden score.

Murao, 26, a Paris Olympic silver medallist, had already removed the hardest name in the bracket. In the round of 16 he scored ippon against Lasha Bekauri of Georgia, the two-time Olympic champion at this weight. From there he reached Tajima, who had lost this same final to him a year ago. Tajima said afterwards that Murao was simply too strong and that he still had work to do. Murao said he had come to establish himself as the undisputed champion at 90 kilograms and had shown what he had worked on.

The final was Japan's third men's gold of these championships. Hifumi Abe had won at 66 kilograms. Ryuga Tanaka had won at 73. A third gold, at a weight where the Olympic champion was still in the draw on day five, is a different kind of result from a home advantage. The event is in Azerbaijan. The bracket at 90 kilograms ran through a Georgian Olympic champion and ended with two Japanese finalists.

Tsunoda Roustant's final went to golden score, the extra time used when neither fighter has a decisive score at the bell. She won it, and with it the first senior world title of her career. She told reporters it was always striking to reach a world final, and she talked about the scale of the event rather than a single throw. Euronews and the International Judo Federation recorded the win over Polleres. The result gives Spain a gold on a day when the men's medals at the top of the card were Japan's.

The women's 70 kilogram draw did not go Japan's way. Shiho Tanaka, chasing a second straight title, lost in the round of 16 to Germany's Giovanna Scoccimarro. That exit is the counter to any reading of Thursday as a Japanese sweep. Japan took the men's 90 kilogram final from the inside, both fighters its own, and lost the defending champion on the women's side of a neighbouring weight before the quarter-finals.

Day five is late in a world championships. Weights already settled included Abe's 66 and Tanaka's 73 on the men's side. What Thursday added was the 90 kilogram title retained without a score against, and a first Spanish gold at 70 kilograms decided in extra time. Murao's path through Bekauri is the match that will be replayed, because an Olympic champion leaving in the round of 16 changes who is considered the favourite at the next Games. Tajima's second straight final loss to the same man fixes the order between them for another year.

The championships continue in Baku after these two finals. The numbers from Thursday are simple. Murao, five bouts, no score against, ippon in the final. Tsunoda Roustant, one golden-score win, first world title. Tanaka, out in the round of 16.