A match-up of two previous Olympic gold medalists in judo did not disappoint as it took more than five minutes of Golden Score for Shohei Ono of Japan to strike gold a second time.
Ono beat Georgia's Lasha Shavdatuashvili in the men's 73kg weight class on Monday. It was an epic final that saw both judokas under duress.
Ono was unseeded in his home nation for these Games but won gold in Rio, while Shavdatuashvili triumphed at London 2012.
No. 1 seed Rustam Orujov of Azerbaijan, a silver medalist in Rio, did not win a medal after falling to Ono in the quarterfinal and An Chang-rim in a bronze medal match.
Tsend-Ochiryn Tsogtbaatar also won bronze when he beat Canada's Arthur Margelidon.
Gjakova gives Kosovo a second judo gold
Nora Gjakova of Kosovo claimed Olympic gold with a defeat of France's Sarah-Leonie Cysique of France in the women's 57kg class on Monday.
Gjakova, the No.3 seed, joins 48kg winner Distria Krasniqi in claiming judo gold for Kosovo.
She beat No. 2 seed Tsukasa Yoshida of Japan in the semifinals after beating Slovenia's Kaja Kajzer and Dutch judoka Sanne Verhagen in the run-up to the semi.
The bronze medals went to Yoshida and No. 1 seed Jessica Klimkait of Canada.
