AM Saint-Gratien / Dojo Béglais: 7-2

A successful start for Saint-Gratien

The Parc des Sports Michel Hidalgo is still reverberating with the wonderful communion between the Gratiennes public and its ten fighters, who have written the first page of their Judo Pro League history. First in action, French junior 2024 champion Jason Okoye (-90kg) ensured the essential by winning by a yuko scored on tai-otoshi against Esteban Rouaud, recent winner of the Label B tournament in Rochefort. France 2024 champion Lyse Versmisse (+70kg) added a second point to the penalties, before the indefatigable Seyba Thiam (+90kg), national medallist in 2013, overcame David Ali K.'s counter-attack attempt with a short scythe to give the Béglais the first point. The next point would have to wait, as Melissa Dumontier saw penalties escalate to a hansokumake against European University runner-up Mathilde Chevalier (-52kg), before Nazir Talibov and Maxime Moundanga went back to back, with no winner in this fifth duel.

A one-way second half

After the restart, it was the newcomers to the Val-d'Oise who sealed the deal: Maylis Rozan (-57kg) gave Cyrielle Vaubourdolle a run for her money with her o-guruma, as did Julie Falgon (-63kg) with her uchi-mata on the edge - awarded the most beautiful ippon of the evening - which she imposed on this summer's cadet world medalist Chloé Jean, and Anaïs Nebout Gonsard (-70kg), European cadet medalist in 2023, who had to take penalties from Tatiano Brito. Meanwhile, the experienced Azerbaijani Ibrahim Aliyev (-73kg), with over twenty Grand Slams and Grand Prix titles to his name, had momentarily kept Gironde's hopes alive by mystifying Zackaria Belfouel with a subtle ko-uchi-gari/ko-soto-gari combination, right up there with the Swiss Aurélien Bonferroni's reverse seoi-nage, which executed Alexandre Bordat in twenty-five seconds. A very solid 7-2 result to be confirmed at the end of the month with the reception of US Orléans Loiret JJ, winners of the last edition.

AC Boulogne-Billancourt / US Orléans Loiret JJ: 5-0

A tight start despite pressure from Boulonnais

The defending champions will certainly be keen to bounce back after proving themselves powerless against the Boulonnais, who were urged on by an incandescent supporters' club throughout a perfect evening for the Orange et Noir. Lili Nguyen (-63kg), one of the main architects of last year's Orléans success with six wins and one draw, thwarted the plans of Dutch 2024 world champion Joanne Van Lieshout with an opening hikiwake, while Axel Mancini (-73kg) was no match for the sumi-gaeshi of 2022 European vice-champion Giovanni Esposito, who could return to Italy with the trophy for the most beautiful ippon. His brother Antonio, up against Arnaud Aregba in the -90kg category, drew the match, as did Lucie Jarrot (-70kg) against Ilona Depri, in a repeat of the final of the Label Excellence tournament in Nantes a few days ago, in which the Orléanaise won.

Boulogne-Billancourt dominate the end of the match

In the absence of an opponent, Liz Ngelebeya (+70kg), winner of the European Open in Prague at the end of September, brought her contribution to the home side, as did Yoann Benezra, impeccable in the heavyweight category against Amaury Cerisier, whom he surprised at the start of the last minute with an ippon/ko-uchi-gari on the restart, scored waza-ari, then a yoko-tomoe-nage which he had the merit of not releasing before scoring yuko. At 3-0, the seventh match of the evening was already set to be decisive between Léonie Gonzalez, triple national medallist in the -52kg category, and the reigning French champion in the -48kg category, Anaïs Perrot. At the controls of each seizure, the former saw her opponent collect two shidos before the mid-fight break. Not that this stopped her in her tracks, as two sequences later she launched a deep o-soto-gari to be awarded victory by the referee. Romain Valadier-Picard, vice world champion in the -60kg category in 2025, then took on Enzo Jean, selected for the latest European championships, for an intense but ultimately fruitless battle, identical to the one that closed the match between Eliot Prève (-73kg) and Mathias Moreau. The final blow went to double Olympic medallist Sarah-Léonie Cysique (-57kg), who first scored Clara Wentzler waza-ari on o-soto-gari before making her give up with a supersonic elbow turn. This opening 5-0 score sent a clear message to the seventeen other teams in this fourth season: AC Boulogne-Billancourt will be a force to be reckoned with this year!