Matthias Casse qualifies for the judo final in -81 kg, Sami Chouchi out in the 3rd round

Exempted from the first round, Casse, 2nd in the world and reigning world champion, first defeated the Briton Lachlan Moorhead (IJF 39) on ippon after 25 seconds in the ‘golden score’. The Antwerper then beat Kyrgyz Asad Masabirov (IJF 37) on ippon in the third round. In the quarter-finals, the reigning world champion then had to fight for more than four minutes in the ‘golden score’ to overcome the Austrian Shamil Borchashvili (IJF 7) on penalties. Opposed to the Japanese Sotaro Fujiwara (IJF 12) in the semi-finals, Casse first suffered a waza-ari before winning on an ippon 11 seconds from the gong. In the final, Casse will face his rival, the Georgian Tato Grigalashvili, world No.1. Casse beat the Georgian in the final of the 2021 Worlds in Budapest and then in the fight for bronze at the Tokyo Olympics a month and a half later. Also exempted from the first round, Chouchi, 7th in the world, started with a victory on penalties against the Egyptian Abdelrahman Abdelghaby (IJF 95) before losing on ippon in the 3rd round against the Japanese Takanori Nagase, 16th in the world and Olympic champion in title. Gabriella Willems (IJF 41/-70kg) will step onto the mats on Monday and Sophie Berger (IJF 69/-78kg) and Toma Nikiforov (IJF 8/-100kg) on ​​Tuesday. On Thursday, Elle Salens, in -48kg, was eliminated in the second round while Jorre Verstaeten was taken out in the third round in -60kg. On Saturday, Abdul Malik Umayev was taken out in the 2nd round in -73 kg and Mina Libeer in the 3rd round in -57 kg. (Belga)

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