Romane Dicko won her first world title today in Tashkent ©Getty Images

Romane Dicko of France and Cuba's Andy Granda both won their country's first gold medal of the World Judo Championships in Tashkent on the final day of individual competition here.

The French had underperformed in the Uzbek capital following their second place finish last year in Budapest but double Olympic medallist Dicko saved face in the women's over-78-kilograms.

The triple European champion was up against Brazil's Beatriz Souza, also a three-time continental gold medallist, in the decider.

What looked like a tantalising fixture on paper was over in a flash at the Humo Arena.

In Dicko's first attack she brought Souza down to the tatami and locked her up in a spectacular pin hold for the 20-second limit which sealed the ippon and Dicko's first world title.

The 2021 runner-up Wakaba Tomita clinched the first bronze medal in similarly quick fashion against Kim Ha-yun of South Korea.

Both athletes were handed a shido for not attacking in the first 15 seconds.

Tomita had clearly learned her lesson after that as she immediately grabbed Kim by the collar and delivered a nage-waza for the win.

There was another French medallist in the second bronze-medal match as Julia Tolofua got the better of Raz Hershko.

Andy Granda, in white, defeated Japan's Tatsuru Saito in the men's over-100kg final after the 20-year-old was given a hansoku-make ©Getty Images
Andy Granda, in white, defeated Japan's Tatsuru Saito in the men's over-100kg final after the 20-year-old was given a hansoku-make ©Getty Images

The Israeli, known as Hershkules, conceded three shido which resulted in a hansoku-make and her disqualification.

In the men's over-100kg gold-medal match, there was nothing that could separate Granda and Tatsuru Saito of Japan until deep into the sudden death golden score round.

Granda knew he could not match Saito for size and would not stand a chance trying to execute any lifts on him.

As a result, he repeatedly attempted tai oshi body drops on him in the hopes of drawing fouls.

The tactic paid off as Saito was found guilty of illegally preventing a potential waza-ari on three occasions which saw him given a hansoku-make.

World number one and Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Guram Tushishvili dealt an early leg sweep on Tajikistan's Temur Rakhimov which gave him the deciding waza-ari to win the first men's bronze.

The second was then claimed by South Korean Kim Min-jong who also saw out a lead after taking the single waza-ari lead with just 15 seconds on the clock.

Today marked the final day of individual events, with competition scheduled to conclude tomorrow with the mixed team event.