HAMBURG (Germany), Feb 23: Japan’s Tadahiro Nomura, a triple Olympic champion, slumped to a shock defeat at the hands of Austria’s Ludwig Paischer at the Hamburg tournament here on Friday.

Nomura, the -60kg gold medallist in 1996, 2000 and 2004, was beaten by an ippon after just 42 seconds of the fight against the 2004 European champion.

The Japanese, the only judoka in history to have won three consecutive gold medals, is widely tipped to make it an unprecedented fourth in Beijing this year.

Meanwhile, in the -66kg, Spain’s Oscar Penas defeated Hungary’s Miklos Ungvari.

In the women’s competition, Japan’s Emi Yamagishi won the -48kg category while China’s Li Ying clinched the -52kg title.

—AFP