Judo Worlds in Baku: mixed starts for the French team

At the end of the first day of competition, the French judo team has already fallen behind on its goal of four gold medals and as many medals as possible at the Baku Worlds. Shirine Boukli had to settle for bronze in less than 48 kg, Sunday October 4, while she was aiming for the world title after her second place in 2023. Her compatriots Luka Mkheidze and Romain Valadier-Picard (-60 kg), for their part, did not have the opportunity to compete for the medals.

The big disappointment comes from Luka Mkheidze, 2024 Olympic vice-champion, who lost from the start. Unseeded, he faced the Russian Ayub Bliev, fourth in the world ranking of less than 60 kilos, and received penalties which disqualified him. In the same category, Romain Valadier-Picard reached the quarter-finals, but lost after two shidos for two false attacks. In repechage, he was sanctioned again and lost on shido to Georgian Giorgi Sardalashvili.

The French were, however, warned of the severity of the referees.

Shirine Boukli may also regret the penalties received by the referees. In the quarterfinals, she was penalized for a false attack and received a third elimination shido. Once the dream of world gold was gone, the Frenchwoman pulled herself together to beat the Brazilian Clarence Ribeiro on waza-ari, then the Mongolian Baasankhuu Bavuudorj in the golden score, in order to obtain bronze.

This medal will not satisfy Stéphane Nomis, the president of the French Judo Federation, who made a rant about RMC even before the end of the first day of competition. "I brought everyone together yesterday to warn them that the referees were going to overturn the penalties. They are losing because they are not doing good judo. This makes me angry, we have no right! [...] They deserve all the false attacks they have taken, that's the rule. Shirine is 27 years old, she must know herself better than that. She has no right to lose like that," he railed.

Two years before the Olympic Games, for which the federation must make selections among its athletes, the French judokas entered this Sunday did not necessarily score points.