Judo Worlds: While waiting for Riner, we know the list of French selections

Seventeen of the 18 members of the French delegation to the Judo World Championships in Abu Dhabi (May 19-24), the final big meeting before the Olympics, are now known, pending Teddy Riner's decision, indicated Tuesday the management of the Blues.

Of these 17 athletes, 9 are also selected for the Paris Games, including Clarisse Agbégnénou (-63 kg), Madeleine Malonga (-78 kg) and Luka Mkheidze (-60 kg), who will aim for gold in the Emirates, to add to their record but also improve their world ranking for the Olympic tournament.

The 18th and last place, allocated to the men's selection, is still vacant, awaiting the decision of triple Olympic champion Teddy Riner, who has just won the Grand Slam in Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and might want to take a breather.

“As you have seen, there is one place left, that is what we agreed with Teddy and his staff... We will have a decision taken together, and obviously it will come first from Teddy. We are all very calm,” said Frédérique Jossinet, in charge of high level at the Federation, on Tuesday, noting that registrations closed “10 days before” the competition, i.e. Thursday.

Teddy Riner, 35, “had a pretty extraordinary competition (in Tajikistan). We saw his state of form, in his state of mind but also really from a physical and even technical-tactical point of view, where he was above everyone else,” noted the manager, interviewed on the sidelines of a training session for the Blues at Insep.

“But you also sometimes need very strong periods of training, competitions and then, at some point, come back down, get a good rest,” she stressed.

Among the women, a last minute change occurred with the withdrawal of Blandine Pont, recent European vice-champion in -48 kg but injured in a knee during her lost final.

She is replaced by Priscilla Gneto, who will be aligned with Faïza Mokdar in -57 kg.

“It’s a hard blow for Blandine, but we hope that she will recover very quickly. In any case, it's a good decision on her part to preserve her health and build the future,” Christophe Massina, head of the French women's team, told AFP.

Pont, 25, not selected for the Olympics, herself announced her withdrawal on Instagram, raising the possibility of a change of category in the future.

“It's up to her to see what happens next, but whether she stays at 48 kg or whether she moves to (less than) 52 kg, she's a very strong girl, very complete, she can also be very strong in the top category,” commented Frédérique Jossinet.