Olympics 2012: Zolnir wins Slovenia's first judo gold

Slovenia's Urska Zolnir won her country's first Olympic judo gold on Tuesday, triumphing in the women's -63kg category. The 30-year-old world number three, who won bronze in Athens in 2004, defeated China's Xu Lili in the final, getting the all important winning score when she threw Xu over her shoulder for a waza-ari.

Slovenia had only ever won bronze in judo before and Zolnir's gold was their fourth in any sport. It was also China's first judo medal in London after picking up three gold and a bronze in Beijing.

The quarter-finals had earlier produced major shocks with both of the category's standout judokas, Japan's Yoshie Ueno and France's Gevrise Emane, surprisingly defeated. World number one Ueno, who trudged off dejected after her loss, bounced back to win bronze, adding to her family's medal collection as her sister Masae was an Olympic judo champion in Athens and Beijing.

Emane, 30, the world champion, also recovered to take the other bronze, defeating Ueno's conqueror Joung Da-woon of South Korea, to win France's fourth bronze medal in judo in three days.