Teddy Riner continues. Five weeks after his victory in Antalya (Turkey), the French judoka will continue preparing for the Paris Olympic Games… in Tajikistan. According to the French Judo Federation, Riner will take part in the Grand Slam tournament in Dushanbe this Sunday.
Dushanbe could be Riner’s last tournament before the Paris Games for three months, unless he competes at the World Championships in Abu Dhabi at the end of May.
Teddy Riner continues to hope for victory at the Grand Slam tournament in Antalya, where, despite his success, he expressed some fatigue. The 35-year-old from Guadeloupe, who is aiming for a third individual Olympic title in the +100kg category in Paris, said he was “tired” and “without desire”.
Top seed at the Olympics?
Unbeaten since losing to Russia’s Tamerlan Bashaev in the quarter-finals of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Riner has since won Grand Slam titles in Budapest 2022, Paris 2023 and 2024 and subsequently Antalya. Not forgetting the world title, the eleventh of his career, won in Doha a year ago.
A good result in Tajikistan will allow him to score valuable points in the Olympic rankings and approach the Games as the top seed, a status that would normally allow him to avoid the preliminary round and have a clearer picture of his early bouts.
Two more French Olympic champions, Walid Khiar (up to 66 kg) and Sarah-Leonie Sisik (up to 57 kg), will go to Tajikistan.
Source: Le Parisien
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