Takato’s the golden boy

JUDO: Naohisa Takato won Japan’s first gold at their home Olympics on a day when two of the host nation’s big medal hopes suffered shock exits.

Takato, a three-time world champion, was under pressure just an hour after team-mate Funa Tonaki had been pipped for gold by Kosovo’s Distria Krasniqi in the women’s 48kg final.

However, the 28-year-old made no mistake in his men’s 60kg final with a routine success against Taiwan’s Yang Yung-wei.

But it was a mixed day for the Japanese with Kohei Uchimura’s Olympic career coming to a surprising end. The 32-year-old’s bid for an eighth medal ended when he fell off the horizontal bar.

And in the pool, gold medal hope Daiya Seto failed to qualify for the men’s 400m medley final after finishing ninth in the heats.

JUDO: British judoka Ashley McKenzie, a former contestant on Celebrity Big Brother, broke down in tears after being eliminated from the Games in his one fight.

McKenzie, 32, one of the stars of the 2012 version of the reality TV show, competed at the past two Games in the 60kg category but has failed to make an impression in Tokyo.