An immense sadness for her and bad news for the France team. Aïssatou Kouyaté (25) will not participate in the Olympic adventure next summer in Japan, when she seemed to have won her place. The right-back from Besançon, from Chartres, was seriously injured on Friday during a women’s D1 match in Chambray (Indre-et-Loire). The MRI confirmed what many feared on Saturday: a ruptured cruciate ligament. This implies an unavailability of at least six to eight months, and therefore, a premature end of the season.
A brutally closed chapter
This halt is all the more annoying as the former player of MSD Chartres has been walking on water lately. She had just chained three matches with more than eight club goals, and occupied fifth place in the ranking of the best scorers in the championship, behind four foreigners, with an average of nearly six goals per game. Thunderous stats that would have most likely earned him a ticket to Tokyo, a few months after his first big competition with the Blue, concluded with a silver medal at the Euro, in December, in Denmark. She had also just been convened for the next meeting of the Blue, this month, at the House of handball in Créteil.
Aïssatou Kouyaté vice-champion of Europe
For Aïssatou Kouyaté, this injury also suddenly closes a chapter of his career. Because she will no longer postpone the Besançon jersey, her team since 2016. Announcement was made this winter of her departure to Brest, one of the two locomotives of French handball, with a two-year contract. She will therefore be deprived of her farewells in Franche-Comté, which inevitably adds to the disappointment of the situation.
Siraba Dembélé, only Eurélienne
in the French team …
Suddenly, there should be only one Eurélienne in the France team this summer in Tokyo. Apart from an injury, it is difficult to see what could prevent Siraba Dembélé, captain and captain of the group, from being on the trip.
Romain Leger
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