Dojo Béglais / Venelles Judo 13: 4-4 

 

Like last week's meeting between the Dojo Nantais and JC Chilly-Mazarin Morangis, it was woe betide the vanquished at the Duhourquet gymnasium in Bègles, for the meeting between the Dojo Béglais and Venelles Judo 13, both winless up to that point. The pressure was visibly better managed by the Girondins at the start of the match, with Alexandre Bordat (-81kg) defeating Benjamin Constant with a kata-guruma and a waza-ari as the bout drew to a close. With no -70kg to show for it, the Venellois let slip a second point, then a third in the +70kg category when Astan Sacko overcame Tiziana Marini's insecure attack to bring her to the ground, where she concluded with an immobilization. While the -90kg duel between Esteban Roulaud and Néo Manfruelli was a no-win affair, the heavyweight duel saw the awakening of the southerners thanks to the colossal Azerbaijani Camal Feyziyev, author of a powerful stranglehold that forced Alex Khouma to give up.

Venelle's final sprint takes all 

 

After the break, the Dojo Béglais were back on track, with Diane Inguimbert (-52kg) demonstrating her sacrificial technique against Loryn Bellance before subduing her rival with a perfectly executed arm lock. The hikiwake of the following round - pitting Rodéric Prosper (-66kg) against Guillaume Hureau - had the merit of clarifying matters: at 4-1 (310-100), any outcome other than three ippon victories for Venelles would have given the Dojo Béglais final victory - and ensured their survival. Except that the last forces of the Bouches-du-Rhône group were not lacking in allure, starting with Guinea's Mariana Esteves, three-time reigning African champion and current world number 16 in -57kg. After some hard work in ne-waza, she pinned Cyrielle Vaubourdolle in tate-shiho-gatame. The same was true a few minutes later when Samuel Sylvain (-73kg) saw the osaekomi clock tick inexorably upwards, unable to escape the grip of Gambian Faye Njie. And what about the juji-gatame inflicted in sixteen seconds by European university champion Lena Bonnamy on the unfortunate Sophie Adnaud? The venellois hurricane had passed, and they could return home with three points, which they may have won with great pain, but which will ensure they'll still be there next year. 

 

 

Juniville-Marnaval Grand Est / AM Asnières Judo 92: 3-3 

 

With an eye on the top 8, Juniville-Marnaval and Asnières-sur-Seine also met this week for the equivalent of a decisive round of 16. With their suffocating draw from the outset, Abdoul Radir Drammeh and Igor Soucat (-81kg) set the tone for the match. Faces then tightened in the Champardennais camp as their two-time French champion in the +78kg category, Anne-Fatoumata Mbairo, lost to Océane Baba Boura, who twice took the initiative to win. Fortunately for the home side, Cuban Andy Granda, 2022 world heavyweight champion, proved patient against Marc-François Ngayap, whom he mystified in the fifth minute with a chiselled leg kick. The scoreboard remained locked at 1-1 until the break, with Mélanie Legoux-Clément (-52kg) unable to get past Lycia Guebli before Jules Cymbert and Evan Leclerc (-66kg) also cancelled each other out. 

 

Juniville-Marnaval takes its revenge 

 

Making her first appearance in this Judo Pro League, Germany's Seija Ballhaus (-57kg), the reigning European champion, made no bones about it against Meriem Medjouri, whom she eventually overpowered by a choke. For the first time, Juniville-Marnaval took control of the match, never to relinquish it to the Asniérois. A yuko victory by Hans-Jorris Ahibo (-73kg) over Tanguy Gérard was not enough to put the Asniérois back in the lead, and even less so when fellow -63kg Myriam Couillard collected three shidos against Loriane Bruhl. The draw between Lou Lherbier and Tom Libert in the -81kg class put the Grand Est league's representatives out of reach, whatever the outcome of the tenth bout, the points difference being too great for Juliette Diollot's penalty victory over Inès Prévot to make any difference. The end of the season for the Hauts-de-Seine club, double bronze medallist in the event in the first two editions and first non-qualifier... like Juniville-Marnaval last year. 

 

 

Stade Bordelais / Normandie Judo: 7-1 

 

With these two results in mind when hosting Normandie Judo, the Stade Bordelais knew exactly what they had to do to move up from provisional twelfth place. A win would take them into the top 8, while success with over 511 points would send them straight into fifth place. This certainly explained the thunderous start made by David Gonzalez's troops, who were helped by the three Normandy forfeits in +70kg, -73kg and -90kg. Nevertheless, it was all over after the first three bouts: Dominican Robert Florentino (+90kg), two-time winner of the Pan-American Championships and recent gold medallist at the Bolivian Games, beat Florent Gaudy by two waza-ari, the first of which was a pretty uchi-mata, Bulgarian Gabriela Dimitrova (-52kg) followed the same scenario to dominate Leia Fabiani, while Kylian Noël (-66kg) shone with his yoko-tomoe-nage against Romain Barrou. 

 

Féréol saves Normandy's honour 

 

With no suspense as to the outcome of the thirty-sixth and final match of these 2025/2026 qualifiers, two of the last three women's bouts ended in hikiwake, including the one between British Olympian Lucy Renshall and Perrine Saint-Étienne. Only Mathilde Chabal (-70kg) managed to hold her own against Nolwenn Hébert to give the scoreline a further boost, just after Alexandre Féréol (-81kg) saved the Normans' honour with a remarkably timed o-uchi-gari against Jocelyn Verepla, who was leading by a yuko. 

 

Quarter-final schedule (dates to be confirmed)

RSC Montreuil (1er) - Sainte-Geneviève Sports (8e) 

AM Saint-Gratien (2e) - Juniville Marnaval Grand Est (7e) 

AC Boulogne-Billancourt (3e) - FLAM 91 (6e) 

Judo Nice Métropole (4e) - Stade Bordelais (5e)