-63kg: Agbegnenou Does it Again

Ahead of the World Judo Championships – Doha 2023, it was the former question that was being asked. The reason being, after winning her Olympic title in Tokyo in 2021, Agbegnenou took more than a year out to start a family. She began training again in late 2022, much to the delight of many other -63kg fighters, believe it or not. “Everyone is so happy that you’re back, so that we get the chance to fight you again,” Prisca Awiti Alcaraz (MEX) told Agbegnenou at the Paris Grand Slam training camp in February. The French fighter returned to competition at the Tel Aviv Grand Slam that same month, finishing in 7th place after two losses, the first time in more than 10 years that she did not make it onto the podium at an IJF World Tour event. Could she rediscover her usual form in time for Doha? The answer was a resounding yes.

Agbegnenou came into the event unseeded and fought with tenacity, but no less composure than normal, to come through a series of difficult contests, growing in confidence with each fight. In round 1, she used her ever-improving ne-waza skills to submit Obradovic (SRB), using a straight-arm ude-garami with only 16 seconds left on the clock. Round 2 saw her face the in-form Del Toro Carvajal (CUB), who took the Frenchwoman to golden score. There Agbegnenou persevered, eventually throwing the Cuban with ura-nage in the 6th minute of the contest, for ippon.

In round 3 was number 7 seed Gili Sharir (ISR), who also pushed Agbegnenou into golden score. This time round however, she wasted no time, throwing with o-uchi-gari 20 seconds into overtime. World number 2 and Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard (CAN) lay in wait in the quarter-final. Agbegnenou came out firing on all cylinders, throwing for waza-ari with tai-otoshi in just 20 seconds. The Canadian is a ne-waza specialist and tried desperately to make a breakthrough on the ground, but it never came. She was thrown once again in the last 10 seconds with yoko-guruma for a second waza-ari.

Elsewhere in the draw, the remaining top seeds were dropping like flies. Former junior world champion Joanne van Lieshout (NED) defeated not only world number 1 Lucy Renshall (GBR) in round 2, but also four-time Masters winner Miku Takaichi (JPN) in round 3. Takaichi’s teammate and defending world champion Megumi Horikawa lost out to Mexico’s Prisca Awiti Alcaraz, also in round 3. 

Barrios (VEN), Quadros (BRA), Szymanska (POL) and Haecker (AUS) all faltered before the quarter-final stage too. Agbegnenou was drawn to face Lubjana Piovesana (AUT) in the semi-final, who was responsible for Haecker’s early exit in round 2, throwing with ura-nage for ippon around the 2-minute mark. The French athlete again faced strong resistance from Piovesana, but remained calm and composed, throwing first with o-uchi-gari, then uki-otoshi to book her spot in the final.

Andreja Leski (SLO) hasn’t won a World Tour medal in 18 months but this dry spell finally ended today in Doha, as she showed tremendous spirit to make it through to the final. A waza-ari score with ko-soto-gari was enough to defeat Tang (CHN) in round 1. She then threw immediately with sode-tsurikomi-goshi to beat Shaheen (IRT) in round 2. A dominant tactical victory over Shemesh (ISR) preceded a quarter-final against Laura Fazliu (KOS), who was behind Quadros’ departure from the tournament. Leski was unfazed, throwing the Kosovan with o-soto-gari and following quickly into yoko-shiho-gatame to score ippon.

20-year-old Van Lieshout was Leski’s opposition  in the semi-final. The contest was a brutal, physical affair, with Leski using all her might to try to throw and Van Lieshout defending well but after 7 and a half minutes of fighting, it was a relatively gentle ko-soto-gari that scored the Slovenian waza-ari and set up a repeat of the 2021 Budapest World Championship final with Agbegnenou.

Once again, Leski proved to be more than a worthy opponent for Agbegnenou, as her attacking and defending were superior in the opening minutes. However, the Frenchwoman bided her time, waiting for the right moment and that moment arrived with 30 seconds left in the contest. Leski launched a strong sode-tsurikomi-goshi attack, but Agbegnenou blocked it and took her backwards to score waza-ari and then secured osae-komi to convert it to ippon. 

Clarisse becomes only the fifth judoka in history to win 6 world titles and in doing so she proved that motherhood doesn’t have to be a barrier to success at the highest level of judo. Will she go even further and add a second Olympic title to her collection at her home games in Paris?

The first bronze medal was settled between Austria’s Piovesana and Szofi Ozbas (HUN). Although Piovesana had the better of the early exchanges, a single mistake in golden score allowed Ozbas to drop underneath her and throw for waza-ari to take her first senior world medal at just 21 years of age. Van Lieshout followed suit in the second bronze medal contest, where she defeated Awiti Alcaraz by ippon, also with seoi-nage. While some players struggle with the transition from junior to senior level, Ozbas and Van Lieshout have proved they are more than up to the challenge. 

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