In an all-French bronze medal contest, there was no surprise that the crowd instantly came alive in the final block of the European Club Championships – Champions League 2024.
SGS Judo took on Judo Nice Metropole for the chance to claim bronze, and opening the head to head were the challengers of the +70kg category, Lucie DUPIN (SGS) and Grace-Esther MIENANDI LAHOU (Nice). The latter succeeded after she managed to hold Dupin in osaekomi. Guerman ANDREEV (Nice) was on good form and put the first score on the board, but the Amadou MEITE, silver medallist in the French National Championships 2024, came back with an ippon score, over rolling a weak attack from Andreev.
The first international athlete for a French team took to the tatami for SGS, Mariana ESTEVES (GUI), battling one of the most fierce competitors of the day, Alya DE CARVALHO. De Carvalho defeated European Open Champion, Eteri LIPARTELIANI (Golden Gori/GEO) in the quarter final draw, and took Marica PERISIC (Red Star/SRB) over seven minutes in golden score in the semi final draw. It is clear the young athlete is adept at managing the pressure, and proved that once again in the contest for bronze, however it was Esteves that claimed the contest with juji gatame.
It seemed that ne waza was the place to be, as in the -73kg contest between Thomas JAFFART (SGS) and Maxime GOBERT (Nice), Gobert was struggling for the majority of the contest to find a way to take the lead, then an opening appeared in the last seconds, finding a strangle and evening the score, 2:2.
Two-time Junior World Champion, Melkia AUCHECORNE (Nice) was up next and blasted her way to a win against Lila-Louise DESBOIS with a drop seoi nage in the first thirty seconds. Only one more win from Nice would guarantee the bronze medal, but guest athlete, Adam KOPECKY (CZE) wanted to keep his club, SGS, in the running. Teo L HERBIER (Nice) didn’t make it easy, but the pair ventured in to golden score for the -90kg contest. As they approached two and half minutes of golden score, L Herbier anticipated a kata guruma from Kopecky and controlled the arm for a juji gatame win, and the bronze medal for Judo Nice Metropole!
It was such a good feeling to win today, the whole tournament we were going 3:3 and I didn’t want to do that again, so I did my best to win the fight, it was so difficult. I know my opponent very well because his girlfriend is French and he trains here a lot, and we train together.
It was all-French and we know our opponents so well, some fights you think you’re going to lose, but we end up winning! The teams is a very beautiful event because you never know what will happen, there are always big surprises. This is Judo!
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen