Karate: Quentin Mahauden wins the bronze medal at the Euro!

At 22, Quentin ended a (too long) series of fifth places (five…) since his appearance with the seniors in March 2019. To get on the podium, the Belgian beat the Montenegrin Mikulic (0-0, decision) at the end of a face-to-face where the two adversaries observed each other for most of the time, being sanctioned three times by the central referee for passivity.

But the end of the fight was thrilling with two video appeals, one on each side, but no points awarded. In the end, the judges considered that the Belgian had been the most enterprising. And they weren’t wrong… Quentin Mahauden was able, this time, to get out of the tatami with a broad smile on his face!

To get there, Quentin had signed a formidable run in the playoffs on Wednesday. Exempted from the first round, he dismissed the Serb Maric (10-3), the Slovak Janovcik (4-3) and the Croatian Martinac (4-0) to find himself in the semi-finals against the Ukrainian Zaplitnyi.

And this face-to-face was incredibly intense! Led 0-1 after about thirty seconds, the Brabançon equalized at 1-1, then cashed again (1-2). Eight seconds from the end, the Ukrainian scored what everyone thought was the winning point (1-3). But, just five seconds later, Quentin kicked to the head, earning him three points (4-3).

Explosion of joy in the Belgian clan until, on the gong, Zaplitnyi equalized at 4-4 by taking and hitting the Belgian on the ground. As the Ukrainian had scored first, he was declared the winner! Desolation for Quentin Mahauden, sent back to fight for the bronze, but very happy to have finally won it…

Quentin Mahauden kicks off the season with a bang in Paris…

In -84 kgWalid Deghali unfortunately lost outright to Montenegrin Malovic (0-0, decision), without being drafted.

In +84 kg, Luca Costa won his first fight against Irishman McCarthy (3-1), but was then beaten by Frenchman Filali (0-6), future finalist. Drafted, the Liégeois then found himself facing the Macedonian Stojanovikj, whom he dismissed as “first scorer” after a score of 3-3. But Luca’s career was stopped at the next stage by the Spaniard Sakho (1-2) who, thanks to his victory, granted himself the right to fight for bronze.