(Left) France’s Clarisse Agbegnenou and Slovenia’s Andreja Leski (white) compete in the women’s -63kg final bout and Georgia’s Tato Grigalashvili (white) and Belgium’s Matthias Casse in action. Pic: IJF
Doha: French judo legend Clarisse Agbegnenou once again stamped her dominance as one of the best in the history of the sport, when she defeated Slovenia’s Andreja Leski in the -63 kg category to clinch her sixth individual world title, yesterday.
At the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena, Agbegnenou was back in action at a global stage after giving birth to her daughter, Athena, 11 months ago as she regained the world title after winning on four consecutive World Championships (2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021) following her maiden world title in 2014.
Commenting on the win on Day 4 of the IJF World Championships - Doha 2023, Agbegnenou said she couldn’t have asked for more.
“I knew the path was going to be very very hard and I can say that 10 months after giving birth, in 11 months I came back. I know that there are still things to work on for the Paris 2024 Games, but in the meantime, I bring back my sixth world title and I can be only proud. I’m proud of my daughter and people around me,” Agbegnenou told French media outlet L’Equipe.
“Mathieu, I’ll bring you the medal back to the hospital. And Inès, you know very well, I did it for you too,” the 30-year-old dedicated her win for two of her friends who are not well.
Agbegnenou noted that yesterday’s win was the most difficult in her career.
“It’s the most difficult, that’s for sure. I worked a lot to get there. Also cried a lot, but so much the most beautiful. I’ve been telling my daughter ever since, it’s all this day that I was going to bring her the medal, that I was going to put around her neck. And there I can do it, I know things I promise,” Agbegnenou said.
Asked if the medal had a taste of revenge, following tough times, Agbegnenou said: “I’m not here for revenge, but in any case, I’m happy to have put things aside in my head, to have gone ahead and continue to work with my whole team. So let’s go and move forward to talk about 2024.”
With a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics already under her belt, Agbegnenou is now aiming to repeat her success at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The first bronze medal was won by Austria’s Lubjan Piovesana who defeated Szofi Ozbas (HUN), while Dutchwoman Joanne Van Lieshout booked the last podium spot when she defeated Mexico’s Awiti Alcaraz.
The men’s -81kg final, was a treat to watch, with two of Europe’s most elite judokas, Tato Grigalashvili of Georgia and Matthias Casse of Belgium battling it out for world glory for the third consecutive year.
In front of an enthusiastic crowd, Grigalashvili put on an impressive performance and retained his World title after a closely contested match against the Belgian, who himself is a former World champion and a World junior champion.
South Korea’s Lee Joonhwan, who defeated Qatar’s Mohamed Rebahi in the second round, went on to share the bronze medals, along with Japan’s Nagase Takanori.
