Revenge after the failed Olympics, the French Shirine Boukli, great medal hope and world No.1 in the under 48 kg category, was eliminated in the third round of the World Judo Championships, Thursday in Tashkent.
“I felt very good, I thought it was going to be a good day but they cut my legs on the road,” admitted Boukli, who lost on waza-ari against Kazakh Abiba Abuzhakynova, 22nd. world. The 23-year-old judoka could however aim for a podium, or even the title, after winning her second European title at the end of April.
“I’m disgusted, I feel like it’s not real. I didn’t do the + taf +, what”, she reacted. “I was very good physically but tactically, it got into my head and I couldn’t deal with it”.
Timorous at the start of the fight against an opponent she did not know, the Frenchwoman showed more aggression in the last minute, but it was too late to reverse the trend.
Remained prostrate for a few moments with her hands on her knees, she was then comforted by the other members of the France team in the passageways of the Humo Arena in Tashkent.
Shirine Boukli had come to Uzbekistan with the desire for revenge, a little over a year after her terrible disappointment at the Tokyo Olympics. Arrived like a rocket in Japan, she had completely failed by falling on penalties in her first fight, when she also represented a serious chance of a medal.
– “I have rage in me” –
Forced to bounce back, she recovered quickly by winning the Grand Slam in Tel Aviv and then the European title in Bulgaria, making her a favorite in these Worlds.
“I know that my strongest competitors will go all the way. So I wonder why I’m not going all the way,” she said.
To digest this disappointment, she will have an opportunity to recover at the next Worlds which take place in only seven months. “She was able to bounce back after the Games, it’s a defeat that will serve her for the future,” assured her coach Séverine Vandenhende, the Sydney-2000 Olympic champion in -63 kg.
“Today (…) I have rage in me,” said Boukli. “I know that I have the possibility of becoming an Olympic champion, the objective is to be ready for that day because it is the Holy Grail and it is the objective of a lifetime. You have to go through a defeat at these World Championships and maybe a victory at the next ones, I take it”.
The Blues conclude the first day of competition without a podium since the two men engaged in less than 60 kg, Romain Valadier-Picard and Cédric Revol, were both released in the second round. The same scenario happened for the two judokas, sanctioned with a third penalty during the Golden score.
“I trained and I lose on my own like shit, like an idiot, it’s stupid”, reacted Valadier-Picard, 20, bronze medalist at the Junior World Championships in August and who participated in his first Worlds seniors.
For his part, Cédric Revol, third in the European Championships at the end of April, said he was “frustrated” with his fight, believing he had dominated “a good part of the match”.
Friday, Walide Khyar (-66 kg) and Amandine Buchard (-52 kg) will try to open the counter of the France team.
