Paris Saint-Germain judoka Joan-Benjamin Gaba secured a seventh-place finish at the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam, leading a contingent of five club athletes who competed at the tournament held from October 29 to 31 in the United Arab Emirates.
Abu Dhabi Grand Slam Results Bring Seventh-Place Finishes
Competing in his second individual tournament since returning from injury, Gaba navigated a grueling schedule in the -73kg category to claim his seventh-place result. The Parisian opened with two victories secured via yuko, the second requiring more than seven minutes of combat on the tatami. In the quarterfinals, Gaba contested another extended bout lasting nearly eight minutes. At the initiative against an opponent who was not very enterprising, he received a third shido for a false attack, ending his run in the main bracket. During the repechage, Gaba logged yet another match exceeding seven minutes before conceding a yuko to Kosovo’s Akil Gjakova.
In the +100kg division, Kévin Nzuzi Diasivi matched Gaba’s seventh-place finish during his debut appearance at the Grand Slam level. The junior European champion opened with two wins—taking his first match by ippon and his second by waza-ari—before dropping his quarterfinal encounter to Georgia’s Irakli Demetrashvili, the world number three and eventual tournament champion. Nzuzi Diasivi subsequently exited the repechage following a narrow yuko defeat.
The remaining PSG competitors faced early eliminations on the UAE mats. Kelvin Ray (-66kg) and Enzo Jean (-60kg) both bowed out in the second round of competition, while Noah Boué Kossa (-81kg) was defeated in his opening match while making his first appearance on the senior IJF circuit.
Youth Olympic Games and European U23 Campaigns
Nathan Gbinghehi represented France at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, delivering a fifth-place finish in the -66kg division. The young Parisian opened his tournament with a 15-second victory before advancing through the quarterfinals via a golden score yuko. After dropping his semifinal bout by ippon, Gbinghehi advanced to the bronze-medal match against host-nation representative Matar Diop. Following a closely contested bout, the Parisian fell to the Senegalese judoka.
Meanwhile, two PSG athletes traveled to the European U23 Championships. Alexis Renard finished fifth in his weight class after picking up two victories. Opening with an ippon following a waza-ari score, Renard fell to Azerbaijan’s Islam Rahimov, who went on to claim the continental title. Relegated to the repechage, Renard defeated another Azerbaijani opponent, Nizami Imranov, via hansoku-make before dropping the bronze-medal contest.
Emma Feuillet-Nguimgo experienced a challenging outing at the U23 event. At just 18 years old, the Parisian stood among the youngest competitors in the tournament field. She faced Croatia’s Korina Dzidic—the eventual bronze medalist—in her opening match and was eliminated, adding valuable international mileage to her development with the Rouge & Bleu squad.
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