The 2025 Hangzhou Asian Open saw Western Australian judoka deliver outstanding performances on the international stage, bringing home one gold and two silver medals for Australia.

Day 1 – Gold for Vas Middleton

Day 1 featured Vas Middleton (Perth Judo Club) in the Men’s Under 66kg division. After receiving a first-round bye, Vas entered the semi-final against Kazakhstan’s Ulykbek Abilkhaiyr. He impressed with a tomoe-nage that scored yuko and held his lead to take the win.

In the final, Vas faced Kazakhstan’s Tabyldy Bigambayev. The contest went into golden score, where Vas attempted another explosive tomoe-nage before transitioning seamlessly into a juji-gatame to secure the submission and the gold medal.

Day 2 – Silver for Keishin Ochi

Keishin Ochi (UWA Judo Club) represented WA in the Men’s Under 81kg category. In the quarter-final, Keishin showcased sharp ashi-waza, scoring waza-ari within the first minute before sealing the bout with a second waza-ari throw.

In the semi-final against China’s Sailike Songhaer, the match went to golden score where Keishin unleashed a powerful uchi-mata to throw for ippon. In the final versus China’s Youxiu, he battled for over seven minutes; after 3½ minutes of golden score, he was held down for a yuko, finishing with a hard-fought silver medal.

Day 2 – Silver for Saya Middleton

Also on Day 2, Saya Middleton (Perth Judo Club) competed in the Women’s Under 70kg division. In the round-robin stage, she defeated China’s Dan Yu after a golden-score throw for yuko, then found a second win over Thailand’s Supattra Nanong just over a minute in, throwing for ippon with an impressive drop sode-tsuri-komi-goshi.

Progressing to the final against China’s Lu Liu, Saya unfortunately received three shidos, resulting in a hansoku-make and finishing with the silver medal.

Results & Replays

Full results: JudoTV — Hangzhou Asian Open
Streams & replays: Judo Union of Asia YouTube channel (@jualivetv)

Congratulations to Vas, Keishin, and Saya on their fantastic results, proudly representing Australia and Western Australia.