Burton: Only world title would be better than Tokyo Grand Slam win

EUAN Burton believes only World Championship gold could have eclipsed his feat of topping the podium at the Tokyo Grand Slam last weekend.

GOLDEN BOY: Great Britain's Euan Burton is over the moon to collect gold in Japan (Getty Images)

The 30-year-old was in fine fettle in Japan, capturing gold in the -81kg in a competition dominated by the home nation, who secured 11 of the 14 titles available.

But Burton refused to give in to home dominance and blitzed his way through to the knock-out stages before overcoming the best Japan had to offer in the last eight and last four before taking gold in the final.

In the last eight, when facing Japanese number one Masahiko Tomouchi, Burton eased his way through after scoring Yuko with a Sumi-gaeshi.

Katsushi Matsumoto was waiting for Burton in the semis and the contest went right to the wire before Burton clinched the match with Ippon with just seconds remaining on the clock.

In the final Burton faced Olympic silver medallist Jae-Bum Kim in a topsy-turvy clash that swayed both ways before the Brit eventually secured Ippon to take gold.

"This tournament was one of my targets for the season," said Burton. "After the World Championships, this is the biggest tournament, so it was easy to train hard.

"I was against the best technical fighters from Japan and Korea. I fought hard all the time."

Meanwhile In the -60kg, -57kg and +78kg categories Ashley McKenzie, Sarah Clark and Karina Bryant all took fifth places respectively.

Burton's gold medal, along with the three fifth places, put Team GB third on the overall medal table after Japan and Korea.