Five Blues in the quarter-finals of the Worlds

After Lounès Hamraoui (-63.5 kg) and Sofiane Oumiha (-60 kg), Billal Bennama (-51 kg), Makan Traoré (-71 kg) and Moreno Fendero (-75 kg) have qualified for the quarter-finals of the World Amateur Championships to be played on Wednesday in Tashkent (Uzbekistan). The last three Blues in the round of 16 on Tuesday, Bennama, Traoré and Fendero beat Thailand’s Thitisan Panmot, Japan’s Sewonrest Okazawa and Russia’s Pavel Sosulin respectively.

Before the Worlds, the blue clan, which had eleven entries, had predicted four quarter-finalists, two of whom will be on the podium. With eleven nations absent (United States, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Ukraine, Poland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Norway), in protest against the presence of Russians and Belarusians with anthem and flag, they could hope for better.

Traoré (22) and Fendero (23) took the opportunity to reveal themselves, the other three quarter-finalists being the most famous of the team: Oumiha (28), outgoing world champion, Bennama (24), European champion and world bronze medalist, and Hamraoui (24), vice-champion of Europe.

Okazawa didn’t seem to take Traore seriously

To qualify for the quarters, Bennama beat 4 judges to 1 Panmot (22 years old) on points. Smaller, the Thai imposed the pressure, the slender Toulouse player betting on mobility and counterattacks. On Wednesday, he will face Taiwanese Po-Wei Tu.

On the other hand, Traoré, winner (29-28 for the 5 judges) of the left-hander Okazawa (27 years old, Japanese mother, Ghanaian father), outgoing world champion of -67 kg, surprised. From the start, Okazawa was spinning, smiling, hands down, seeming not to take his opponent seriously, even appearing to be mocking him.

But the Frenchman hadn’t come to have fun and three of the five judges gave him the first round. The Japanese hardened the fight, but Traoré replied with precision and pocketed the second round unanimously. Okazawa didn’t let up in the third, but it was too late. On Wednesday, the Frenchman will face Kazakh Aslanbek Shymbergenov.

As for Fendero, he also created a sensation by eliminating the Russian Pavel Sosulin (26 years old). The two men fought a spectacular fight, head to head, foot to foot, the right of the French left-hander with the left of the Russian right-hander. Three of the five judges awarded the first round to Sosulin, but Fendero pocketed the second on the same percentage.

In the third round, the Russian received a penalty point for having lost his mouthguard three times. The verdict was slow to be rendered, two additional judges intervening in the event of a close decision. Finally, Fendero won on points 4 judges to 3. Only the score of the five initial judges was displayed: twice 30-26 for the Frenchman and three times 28-28 (in the event of a tie, the judge must give a preferential winner). Leaving the ring, Sosulin was visibly dejected, Fendero terribly happy. On Wednesday, he will meet Tajik Nekruz Salimov.

The winners of the quarter-finals will be guaranteed a medal.