Teddy Riner, back at the worlds six years after his last appearance, qualified for the third round of the World Judo Championships on Saturday in Doha.
Riner won against Poland's Kacper Szczurowski, who has just moved up to the +100kg category and was penalized with three penalties after 3 min 12 sec.
The Frenchman is not seeded, he had to go through a first round against the Romanian Vladut Simionescu, 25th in the world. After a slow start to the fight in which both judokas received two penalties, Riner sent his opponent to the ground at the edge of the mat at 1:47 of the end of regulation time. His opponent in the next round, Mongolia's Tsetsentsengel Odkhuu, could pose more difficulty. Ranked 4th in the world in the category, he won the Tel Aviv Grand Slav in February.
Riner, ten-time world champion and double Olympic champion in individual, comes to Qatar with the desire to test himself in contact with the best judokas one year before the Paris Olympics, his big goal.
