By only finishing 5th in Tbilisi this Sunday in the under 78 kilo category, Audrey Tcheuméo did not score any points for the Olympic selection. It’s up to Madeleine Malonga to respond next Sunday in Antalya.
In this distance duel, Audrey Tcheuméo had the advantage of the move as they say in chess. That of playing first and forcing the opponent to react. The field of opponents proposed to the 2011 world champion could leave a very good mark in the event of success on the evening in Tbilisi. It’s up to Madeleine Malonga to do just as well on the Turkish tatamis in a week.
The advantage has reversed
The performance of the Paris Saint-Germain judo judoka leaves very good cards to her younger sister. The big blow didn’t come. It pays for a difficult winter after an exceptional spring 2023. The menu offered at Bondynoise this Sunday in Georgia was an increasingly steep climb. First the Croatian Prodan, who beat her in their only confrontation, then the Ukrainian Lytvynenko, world medalist, and if qualifying a semi-final against the Dutch Steenhuis against whom she lost her last two confrontations. Names that could have been worth a lot if she had checked them.
Tcheuméo quickly settled the Croatian’s case with an authoritarian scythe after the first minute. In the quarter against the Ukrainian, the scenario that she hates unfolds. A prolonged match where Tcheuméo’s physical decline over the minutes does not allow him to maintain the tactical game proposed by Lytvyneko. Faced with penalties, “Tchoumi” gradually fades away despite the encouragement of Christophe Massina on his chair. In overtime, Lytvynenko frames her, makes her let go of her hands, takes her off the tatami. The third penalty falls against Tcheuméo. A decision that pushes her into the draft board.
First against the Slovenian Lobnik, 15th in the world, whom she immobilized. For bronze, crucial for her, the German Alina Boehm, reigning European champion, stood out. Germanic judokas are in the same situation as French women in this category. Forced to decide between them. Boehm must show her superiority against Anna Maria Wagner (not at weight on Sunday), a former world champion. Tcheuméo started strong placing his arm behind his head and increasing the penalties. As time passed, she found it difficult to reproduce this physical domination. She is also deprived of her coach on the chair, ejected by the referee for not having respected the coaching times.
Dreams of a third Olympics gone?
In the overtime she pushes Boehm to the side who continues to roll in a kind of sumi-gaeshi (sacrifice technique from below), Tcheuméo falls on the edge, waza-ari, no podium. She crouched down at the referee’s decision, a little stunned by this strange sequence. His dreams of a third Olympic Games after London (3rd) and Rio de Janeiro (2nd) may have vanished today in Georgia.
In Antalya on Sunday March 31, Madeleine Malonga will meet many of her compatriot’s opponents. The two Germans will be there, like the Slovenian Lobnik. Not the Ukrainian, replaced by the Portuguese Sampaio. Malonga should meet the Chinese Ma in the quarter-final thanks to her status as number 4 seed, before a semi-final against Wagner, her judo clone (three victories each). A place in the final would certainly allow him to put an end to the last soap opera of the Olympic judo team during the last selection committee last Tuesday January 2. It’s up to her to conclude.
2024-03-24 15:01:04
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