Chinese Tong Wen won the first gold medal at the world judo championships, taking the women's over 78kg title in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil Thursday evening.

Tong defeated Olympic champion Maki Tsukada of Japan in the first of the four gold-medal bouts on the opening day.

"I am very happy to win the third straight gold medal at the world championships," Tong told Xinhua, adding that she has won all five meetings against the Japanese.

"This year's championships is the biggest international meet prior to the Bejing Olympic Games," said Tong, "And it's very important for us to know better of our rivals in the Olympic tune-up."

In the other three finals, Teddy Riner of France defeated Russian Tamerian Tmenov to win the men's over 100kg crown, Cuban Yurisel Laborde won over Japanese Sae Nakazawa with an ippon in the last five seconds to take the women's 78kg title.

Brazilian Luciano Correa beat British Peter Coucins to award the hosts their first gold in the men's 100kg category.

The championships will run through to September 16, with the participation of some 800 judokas from 120 countries and regions. All top five finishers secure the tickets to the Beijing Olympic Games.

(Xinhua News Agency September 14, 2007)