Defending champion and undefeated since last summer and her final of the Olympic Games, the world number 1 of -52kg however did not know how to find the opening in the final to extend her continental reign by one year.
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Leader of this French women’s team which presented itself as conquerors in these 2022 European championships, Amandine Buchard, who remained on two Grand Slam victories – in Abu Dhabi and Paris – began her day by facing the modest Portuguese Joana Diogo, forty- eighth in the world. A serious start for the Parisian, who got rid of her opponent with a waza-ari (intermediate advantage) twenty-two seconds from the end of the fight, thanks to her kata-guruma, a favorite technique which once again hit the mark. Behind, the level suddenly rose several notches since she was facing Kosovare Distria Krasniqi, Olympic champion in -48kg and already sixteenth in the world in her new category. A remake of the final of the last Grand Slam in Paris which again turned to the advantage of the tricolor, more offensive than its opponent and logically declared victorious by the referee after the third penalty inflicted on Krasniqi after six minutes of duel .
The place thus made in her quarter of the table, she then found the Israeli Gefen Primo, European and world bronze medalist in 2021, whom she had not faced for three years. A big battle that was going to be settled again beyond the initial four minutes, when the sixth in the world, embarrassing with her left-handed high guard, succumbed in turn to the rolled up of the Frenchwoman, who thus invited herself for her second continental final in a row after his victory in Lisbon last year. To thwart her in her double plans, then stood the slender English Chelsie Giles, at her side on the podiums of the 2019 European Games in Minsk and the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. A poison with long segments which was going to survive, for almost ten minutes of combat, all the attempts of the Red and Blue athlete until resisting an attempt to counter on the edge to finally steal his crown at the end of the suspense.
“Today, it’s Amandine compensating for her lack of sensations of the day with a warrior’s state of mind who was able to reach the European final again.analyzes the technical director of PSG Judo Nicolas Mossion. She did not give up to make up for her delay in penalties against Krasniqi in the quarterfinals, then insisted in the half to oppose Primo who is also a client of the category, but that was not enough against this Briton, fourth in the world, whose invasive right-handed profile hardly suits Amandine. It’s up to us to use this setback to continue building this new Olympiad which is still beginning, by looking for even more precise and targeted work themes on this kind of opponent. »
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