Shirine Boukli wins Paris gold with ne-waza weapon

The home favourite in Paris coming into the Accor Arena this morning was without a doubt Shirine Boukli. It is not just her nationality that excited the French crowd or her outstanding list of medals and accolades. It is her attitude that really feeds her charisma. She is a fighter who always gives everything, puts her whole soul out on the tatami to know that she could never have given even 1% more. Today she walked away with the gold medal.

The final against Wakana Koga of Japan was somewhat cagey although far from uninteresting. The spectators leant their voices to Boukli as is customary in the Bercy. With a rain of shido for not gripping, the golden score period came easily and 54 seconds into extra time she threw with sumi-gaeshi, just as she had in her opening contest but without the fluidity. A waza-ari was called but the review process saw it removed. Koga was seeded but as number 4 she had a tough draw ending with Boukli who had practiced a lot last two years on her ne-waza, a true weapon.

An o-uchi-gari, very low to the ground, was then applied by Koga and was also given a waza-ari but on review it was clear that Boukli landed on the hip but never touched her two hands on the tatami at the same time. The score went back to zero. The finish finally came after an exciting 2:26 of golden score, with a moment of ne-waza in which Koga looked set to hold her French opponent. The crowd remonstrated but Boukli looked after them well and switched the direction of the movement at the last second, before Koga had the chance to secure a winning position, and she held her for the win.

After the final Shirine Boukli said, “It’s a very important day for me as I have never won before in Paris and now I checked this objective. To prepare for the Olympic Games, the fights today gave me a lot of information. I made so many mistakes and so I have a lot I can refine ahead of the Games and this is a perfect combination for a competition day. It wasn’t perfect but I still won.“

Prelims

Boukli’s attitude was matched by her performance as she moved through the draw notching up win after win. As the number two seed behind Italy’s Scutto, she had a bye in the opening round but dispatched Kurbonova (UZB) in round two with a clean sumi-gaeshi for ippon in the third minute. That was followed by a fast sukashi to eliminate Sweden’s teenage sensation Tara Babulfath.

Wins against Bavuudorj (MGL) and Martinez Abelenda (ESP) completed her run to the final. This final would not be against the number one seed though as, as is often the case, the Japanese entrant put paid to Scutto’s plan to become Paris champion.

Koga was tasked with taking out the number one and she did so but in a battle that was not simple. Scutto led by waza-ari and it was a struggle to overcome but Koga doesn’t give up easily and took the win and her place in the final to compete against Boukli and the French crowd. When the French have a finalist it is never a one-on-one situation!

Bronze

Aforementioned Spanish judoka Martinez Abelenda, having lost the semi-final to Boukli, fought for the first bronze medal of the day, facing Lasso of Columbia. Lasso had an outstanding day, perhaps a somewhat unexpected one. She beat fellow Pan American Nascimento (BRA) in the first round by o-uchi-gaeshi, just into the golden score period. She then beat Ganbaatar (MGL) and Espadinha (FRA) before losing to Koga. That single loss felt somehow acceptable and a bronze medal contests in Paris is not to be sniffed at.

The contest appeared at first to be almost equal in terms of effort, quality and opportunity but the Spanish judoka knew something else. She felt her way through the first two and a half minutes, planning her move and it came when Lasso moved as if to apply a sasae-tsuri-komi-ashi but it was poorly prepared and Martinez Abelenda turned across it expertly, lodging the score she needed to place her on the podium.

The second bronze medal contest was between Bavuudorj and Scutto and it didn’t last long. Scutto turned the Mongolian over on the ground with a well-rehearsed technique and held her for ippon. With just over a minute elapsed, it was a clear victory leaving no questions at all.