A historic season for the club

It's an intense season for the Valdois-based club, with a sixtieth anniversary to celebrate and its first experience in the Judo Pro League to live up to, so as not to regret a thing.

For us, who started playing at a high level in 2012, relying mainly on our men, this new stage in our history is a bit of a revolution," says technical director Ouassini Bentot from the outset. It's a challenge for our staff, who have remained stable despite our recruitment of women, but more generally for the whole club, which now has a new showcase in addition to our Label Excellence Michel-Beauvais tournament, created in 1988 and which today brings together between 800 and 1000 fighters over two days.

I have no doubt that our participation in this competition will generate a lot of momentum, as our youngsters will have the opportunity to see several of their teachers, such as Julie Falgon, Anaïs Nebout, Maxime Moundanga and David Ali K., in action at our home matches.

These athletes are committed to the day-to-day running of the club, which has topped the department in terms of number of members over the last two seasons, and will be keen to shine in the qualifiers if they are to reach the quarter-finals, the minimum target set by the coaching staff.

An ambitious team facing a tough challenge

"The draw didn't spare us, with two seeded teams (Sainte-Geneviève Sports and title holders US Orléans Loiret JJ, NDLR) and a promoted team like us (JC Pontault-Combault, NDLR), but we too will be fielding a competitive team, with athletes who are already familiar with the format, such as Khamzat Saparbaev and Jason Okoye.

We'll also have to juggle individual national selections and injuries, but we have the experience to get there."

The Parc des Sports Michel Hidalgo is ready to catch fire, as it already did on Tuesday, October 7, with a perfectly successful 7-2 opening against Dojo Béglais.