After a neck-and-neck battle in which neither team was able to break the deadlock, it was in the eleventh bout, contested in sudden death, that Zackaria Belfouel qualified Arts Martiaux Saint-Gratien for the Final Four at the expense of Juniville-Marnaval Grand Est.

When it came to predictions, this third quarter-final seemed the most indecisive, as the Valdois team's impressive showing in the qualifiers - second place with four wins - was in stark contrast to the international line-up the Champardennais have fielded since September. In fact, it was one of their summer recruits, double French champion Julie Weill-dit-Morey (-52kg), who got the ball rolling by quickly penalizing her opponent, Italy's Kenya Perna, third at the last military world championships, three times.  

Giuffrida, an effective guest star 

His compatriot Angelo Pantano (-66kg), winner of the European Open in Bulgaria at the end of January, brought the score back into the local camp, constantly on the offensive to the point of smothering Cuban Orlando Polanco, fifth at the 2025 world championships, who was punished by a fatal false attack with twenty-four seconds to go when he had just scored yuko. Juniville-Marnaval again took the lead through another Transalpine, Odette Giuffrida, world champion in the -52kg category in 2024 and double Olympic medallist. In the top category, she managed to sweep aside the very willing Maylis Rozan twice, for two yuko that were enough to delight her team. 

 

 

Falgon battered but determined

Zackaria Belfouel (-73kg) then needed just fourteen seconds to dispatch Tanguy Gérard with a magnificent sode-tsuri-komi-goshi, while Julie Falgon (-63kg) won a golden score (back at this level of competition) against Loriane Bruhl. Despite dominating the kumikata with her strong left arm, the latter was trapped from underneath by the European vice champion -23 years 2025, first on kata-guruma and then on morote-seoi-nage. For the first time in the game, it was Saint-Gratien who were in the lead going into the locker room at half-time. Three-time Swiss vice-champion (series ongoing) John Waizenegger (-81kg) was determined to make the most of this advantage against Lou Lherbier, whom he manhandled throughout regulation time without finding the breakthrough. In the end, it was the Juniville fighter who prevailed with a tai-otoshi/sumi-gaeshi combination in the golden score.
 

Gratia's youth in the coal mine

Then, German Olympic vice-champion Miriam Butkereit proved too strong for French junior 2025 vice-champion Anaïs Nebout-Gonsard, tying her young rival to the floor after just one minute. But the young Gratiennes team didn't give up and Jason Okoye (-90kg), very active, pushed Abdoul Radir Drammeh to the hansokumake. 1-1, 2-2, 3-3 and then 4-4 before Lyse Versmisse (+70kg), bronze medallist at the last French championships, took on Anne-Fatoumata Mbairo, gold medallist at the 2023 and 2024 editions and three-time Grand Slam finalist. Unbeaten after three appearances for the Ile-de-France-based team, the former continued her flawless record, overcoming her elder's ill-prepared tani-otoshi with a great inside mow just before the halfway mark. The «ippon, ippon» rained down from the stands during the cool-down, until the video referee definitively validated the action in Versmisse's favor. 

 

 

Granda postpones defeat... 

The match ball was thus in Saint-Gratien's favor, and they relied on their heavyweight Khamzat Saparbaev, three-time senior national bronze medallist, against the 2022 world champion, the experienced Andy Granda, nine years his senior. His well-established tactics, mainly centred around his sutemis, paid off, as the Cuban conceded the first two shidos of the match. But the Pan-American spetuple champion's rise to power finally proved irresistible to Saparbaev, who in turn was punished twice before flying into the air on his opponent's uchi-mata, firmly planted with his left hand on the belt, and finding himself pinned to the floor. 

... until Belfouel's latest masterstroke 

At 5-5, it all came down to an eleventh duel drawn at random, which brought back -73kg Zackaria Belfouel and Tanguy Gérard. Seventy minutes after their first express confrontation, the affair didn't last much longer this time, Belfouel illustrating himself with a seoi-nage backhand left that mystified his opponent. The Parc des Sports Michel Hidalgo - SIVOM could finally explode with joy! Like Montreuil and Boulogne-Billancourt, it's an undefeated promoted team that reaches the Final Four on May 16, with Saint-Gratien showing great character at home to emerge victorious from this unbreathable quarter-final.

 

 

Next Tuesday sees the last ticket still up for grabs, when Judo Nice Métropole and Stade Bordelais meet, fourth and fifth respectively in the qualifiers.