Baku World Judo Championships Open with Early Contenders Stumbling
At the National Gymnastics Arena in Baku, Azerbaijan, the 2026 World Judo Championships opened on October 7 with high-stakes preliminary bouts in the women’s -63kg and men’s -81kg categories. Reporting from the venue, L'Esprit du Judo detailed a morning session marked by intense tactical battles, early exits for top seeds, and narrow victories for defending champions moving through crowded brackets.
Haruka Kaju Advances as Yuhei Oino Faces Upset
In the women’s -63kg division, defending champion Haruka Kaju advanced past Canada’s Jessica Klimkait by relying on penalties after a scoreless regulation period. Klimkait, the 2021 world champion who moved up from the -57kg class, kept the Japanese titleholder from finding her trademark transitions before accumulating three shidos.
Meanwhile, the men’s -81kg category delivered an immediate upset for top contenders. Japan’s Yuhei Oino entered the tournament as the division favorite following the withdrawal of defending champion Timur Arbuzov of Russia. Oino ran into South Korea’s Lee Joonhwan—a bronze medalist at the last three world championships and the Paris Olympics—who secured victory during golden score with an uchi-mata attack that drew a decisive penalty against the Japanese fighter.
Iran Returns to Championships as Albayrak Exits Early
The men’s -81kg bracket also marked the return of Iranian representation to the world championships for the first time since 2019, when Saeid Mollaei competed in Tokyo before defecting to Germany. Elyas Parhizgar competed as Iran’s sole entry in Baku, entering ranked 95th globally. The 22-year-old, who finished fifth at the Asian Games the previous week, exited the tournament after receiving penalties against Slovenia’s Nace Herkovic.
Additional early action saw Turkey’s Albayrak, winner of the recent Tbilisi Grand Chelem, eliminated by Argentina’s Agustin Gil. Gil countered an attempted grip-breaking movement from Albayrak with a sharp sumi-gaeshi that flipped the Turkish fighter. In contrast, local contender Vusal Galandarzade of Azerbaijan, the 2023 junior world champion, advanced cleanly past Bulgaria’s Hristo Valkov using an o-soto-gari-gaeshi.
French Contenders Map Out Their Paths
For the French delegation, attention centered on six-time world champion Clarisse Agbégnénou and Manon Deketer as they prepared for their opening rounds in the -63kg category. Agbégnénou entered the tournament following a limited competition schedule after the birth of her second child in March, landing in a difficult quarter-bracket featuring Brazil’s Rafaela Silva and Canada’s Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard. Beauchemin-Pinard advanced through her preliminary bout against Bulgaria’s Yoana Aminova after a grueling seven-minute exchange decided by a ko-soto-gari.
Deketer secured the fifth seed in the -63kg division, earning a direct passage to the round of 32 where she awaited the winner of the opening match between Venezuela’s Anriquelis Barrios and Russia’s Dali Liluashvili.
Medal Rounds Follow Preliminary Blocks at National Gymnastics Arena
Competition at the National Gymnastics Arena continues through the week, with medal rounds for the -63kg and -81kg categories scheduled to follow the conclusion of the preliminary blocks. Official brackets and live scoring updates remain accessible through the International Judo Federation portal.
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