Clarisse Agbegnenou Faces Big Disappointment in Abu Dhabi World Championships

Big disappointment for Clarisse Agbegnenou in Abu Dhabi. The Frenchwoman was beaten in the quarter-finals of the world championships this Tuesday, in the -63kg category. The six-time world champion will not win a seventh gold medal since she fell into the trap set by the Canadian Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard, with a waza-ari conceded before the start of the last minute, to which she did not never knew how to answer. This is the first time that she has lost against the Canadian, whom she had beaten in the half of the Olympics three years ago and in the quarters of the 2023 World Cup. She will be able to aim, at best, for a bronze medal if she wins her next repechage fight in this -63 kg category.

The six-time world champion started the day with an easy victory against the Polish Natalia Kropska, 24 years old and 79th in the world, broke on a school o-soto-gari (ippon). She then overthrew the Japanese Megumi Horikawa, 2022 world champion against whom she had a tough fight, at the Paris tournament in February, won after more than 12 minutes, including eight in overtime.

At the Olympics, in addition to the Canadian, it is another Japanese, Miku Takaichi, whom she could find on her road to a second individual Olympic title. After a seventh place at the European Championships in Montpellier at the end of 2023, Clarisse Agbégnénou set the record straight by winning the prestigious Paris tournament with authority, then that of Tashkent.

Disappointment for Djalo

European bronze medalist at the end of 2023, Alpha Djalo failed to climb onto the world podium in -81 kg, eliminated in the second round. Selected for the Olympic Games, Djalo dismissed the German Dominic Ressel in the first round before being beaten, in overtime, by the Uzbek Sharofiddin Boltaboev. Despite being a volunteer on the tatami, the Frenchman was brought down by his opponent after a minute of overtime.

2024-05-21 09:43:03
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