A formidable movement, followed by an unstoppable immobilization: Matthias Casse put the way to beat the Japanese Oino, champion under 21 years of the country of the Rising Sun last December. Seeded n°1 of this Grand Prix of Almada, in Portugal, the Antwerp resident did not miss his first meeting of 2022, even if he will still have to play the final of -81 kg, this Saturday evening. , to win his first gold medal of the year.
When he entered the running, Matthias Casse had to wait for extra time to get rid of the Mongol Batzaya, unknown to the statisticians! Then opposed to the young Frenchman Aregba (19), the Antwerp man largely led the fight, scoring waza-ari on a movement on the fly before managing the end of the fight to reach the quarter-finals, against the Hungarian Rajkai (22 years old / n ° 80), bronze medalist last year, in Zagreb. Once again, Matthias imposed his physique and his tactics. Just after having to go to the medical service for a bleeding nose, the world champion imposed himself on his opponent with an armbar…
In -73 kg, Jeroen Casse managed to get rid of the Portuguese Gomez after an undecided fight and ended after more than three and a half minutes in overtime with a third penalty imposed on his opponent. Then opposed to the Georgian Terashvili, still a junior last year, Matthias’ little brother did not lead wide, succumbing to an unstoppable movement. Jeroen really needs to free himself mentally in competition.
