Following his second fight, Abe found himself facing tough opponents, amongst who were two world champions. He competed against five-time World Championships medalist and 2009 World Champion Georgii Zantaraia in the quarter-final, and surprisingly managed to score a waza-ari. Abe tried to pin Zantaraia, however the latter escaped. Abe was nevertheless through to a semi-final match up against triple and reigning World Champion, fellow Japanese Masashi Ebinuma.