Marie-Ève Gahié will therefore not have had her revenge.
In the sixth and last, decisive fight of this mixed team world final, the French judoka will once again have been beaten by Saki Niizoe, who had already eliminated her in the -70kg individual events on Monday.
Before that, French judokas had been in the spotlight, catching up on points conceded by their male counterparts.
When Alexis Mathieu conceded the opener in this final, beaten on ippon by Goki Tajima (0-1), it was Romane Dicko, world champion in +78kg this Wednesday, who replied by defeating Wakaba Tomita in barely 40 seconds (1-1).
When Joseph Terhec was immobilized by Hyoga Ota after a very tight first set (1-2), it was Sarah-Léonie Cysique who allowed the Blues to pick up by dominating Haruka Funakobo (2-2).
But the course of this French team ended in an immobilization at the very end of the fight of Kenshi Harada against Joan-Benjamin Gaba then a strangulation of Saki Nizoe on Marie-Eve Gahié (2-4).
𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐄-𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐃𝐔 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐄!
🥈🇫🇷
Our French team is beaten in the final by Japan and wins a very nice silver medal!
⚡️
Well done Blues!
👏👏👏#JudoWorlds #GoLesBleus #FierdEtreJudoka pic.twitter.com/Z4SM360VS4
- France Judo (@francejudo_) October 13, 2022
“There is pride all the same, each athlete has gone for it.
We would have liked to come back to 3-3, but the team did not get lost, went for each game.
The Japanese trembled a little, and it is important to mark in the minds that we will be able to beat them at the next world championships, and at the Games, affirms Christophe Massina, coach of the France team.
They were stronger than us, since they won.
They always find the little trick to stay consistent, even in difficulty.
Sometimes, we manage to make them bend, there they managed each time to find the right timing on the fights.
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The Blues had however spent an almost perfect day by easily defeating Georgia in the round of 16 (4-1), then China (4-0) and Israel (4-1).
However, these world championships end on a high note with this silver medal, the fifth medal in all for the French team after Romane Dicko's gold on Wednesday (+78kg), and Julia's three bronze medals Tolofua (+78kg), Amandine Buchard (52kg) and Manon Deketer (63kg).