France beat Japan 4-3 in the team match at the World Championships in Doha. Reigning Olympic champion in this category, the France team is now world team champion.
They beat Japan nearly two years ago in Tokyo and repeated this Sunday. The first fight was more than expeditious. Frenchman Joan-Benjamin Gaba needed only 21 seconds to make an ippon on his opponent Soichi Hashimoto, in the -73 kg category. The France leads 1-0 after an ideal start to the match.