In the previous round, after a first bye, Hidayat Heydarov had won on penalties against the Israeli Tohar Butbul.
In the second quarter-final, Manuel Lombardo was the favourite. It all started well for him, as he won against Adam Stodolski (POL), before scoring a cataclysmic o-goshi on Masayuki Terada (THA). In the quarter-finals, the Italian faced Akil Gjakova, one of the flag bearers of the opening ceremony for Kosovo. Unfortunately, things did not turn out well for him, since it was Gjakova who opened the doors to the semi-final on penalties, to join Heydarov.
In the second part of the draw, the favourite rank was not a guarantee of victory, quite the contrary. In group D, the 2022 world champion, Swiss judoka Nils Stump, who only came to Paris for gold, left empty-handed, beaten in the first round by Erdenebayar Batzaya (MGL). The latter then won against the Spaniard Salvador Cases Roca before falling to Adil Osmanov (MDA), motivated as never before by the bronze medal won by Denis Vieru yesterday.
The question that was burning on everyone's lips this morning was whether Soichi Hashimoto (JPN), with his straight and powerful judo, could win today. Well on his way after a first victory over Mark Hristov (BUL), he bowed out against Joan-Benjamin Gaba (FRA), pumped up thanks to support from the public. It is interesting to note here that competing at home seems to benefit French judoka for the moment. There are always two possibilities: either the pressure of being at home is too great and leads to poor performances or it is the opposite. So far, so good for the French judoka. Transcended, Gaba was through the morning’s rounds!
Actually, you only have to look at his performance to be convinced. In the first round, against the legend Lasha Shavdatuashvili (GEO), who has already won everything in his career, Gaba put up a warrior's fight, which forced the Georgian to make three mistakes; Lasha is out. If the next round was more to his liking against the surprising Tanzanian Andrew Thomas Mlugu, Gaba followed up with a titanic fight against Hashimoto and once again played the game perfectly, tactically. Three penalties against the Japanese and a place in the semi-final for the Frenchman.
The public was not mistaken. To put it bluntly, Gaba was not really expected at this level, but during the Games what counts is to be ready in time. This is clearly the case for Gaba. Will he be able to force his destiny against Osmanov in the semi-final? See you at 16:00 at the Arena Champ-de-Mars to know about it.
Repechage
Arthur MARGELIDON (CAN) vs Manuel LOMBARDO (ITA)
Soichi HASHIMOTO (JPN) vs Erdenebayar BATZAYA (MGL)
Semi-finals
Hidayat HEYDAROV (AZE) vs Akil GJAKOVA (KOS)
Joan-Benjamin GABA (FRA) vs Adil OSMANOV (MDA)