Too strong, the Parisians snatched everything in their path. Appearing during the decisive duel against Belgrade, Teddy Riner scored a winning comeback in front of 2,000 spectators at the FDI Stadium.
Almost five months after his last fight, in the final of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games event, he was expected to be the white wolf. Initially forfeited then announced to be present in Montpellier the day before for the next day, Teddy Riner was still waiting this Saturday.
His coaches had the luxury of doing without him in the quarter-finals of the Champions League for Paris Saint-Germain's entry into contention in a one-sided Ile-de-France derby against Asnières. With its armada, PSG could do without the greatest judoka in history. Margaux Pinot, Romane Dicko, Faïza Mokdar and company did the job.
In the semi-final against Judo Ukraine, the Parisians rotated their squad. Still no Teddy Riner on the horizon and no Pinot, Dicko and Mokdar either. This did not prevent PSG from being impressively quick to secure their ticket to the final of the continental event.
To achieve the four points of victory, the capital club needed around 10 minutes. The Japanese Sanshiro Murao opened the scoring, the French Coralie Hayme was expeditious as was the Uzbek judoka Alisher Yusupov. In conclusion, Priscilla Gneto, the tanned tricolor at the Paris Olympic Games, needed 50 seconds to beat her opponent. And the deal was in the bag.
In the stands, the 120 young people who came with their PSG flags especially from Paris to support their team were delighted: their favorite team was going to fight to win the first mixed team Champions League.
The second semi-final pitted Judo Nice Métropole against the Serbian favorites Red Star Belgrade. The judokas from the Côte d'Azur, French mixed team champion after their success in the Judo Pro League this year, almost created a second surprise after eliminating the Georgians from Golden Gori in the quarter-finals (4-3). But they gave in to the Serbs during the decisive fight (3-4).
Rinse tired but in control
It was then time for the five-time Olympic gold medalist to finally make his appearance on the Montpellier tatami in front of a crazy audience. After an expeditious success from his teammate Romane Dicko to open the scoring, Teddy Riner offered PSG the second point after eight minutes of combat, four of which were golden scores.
In physical difficulty but concentrated and serene, he won thanks to the three penalties conceded by his opponent, the Cuban Andy Granda, world champion + 100kg in 2022. Tired, Riner blew a good blow when the referee ended the fight .
In the process, Faïza Mokdar gave Paris three points ahead before the Japanese Tatsuki Ishihara offered the Champions League to Paris Saint-Germain (4-0).
“I'm happy, there was a great team and a good atmosphere, rejoiced the world judo legend after the podium. Doing it in France is cool, following on from the Olympic Games. 2024 has been an extraordinary year. Winning with France and Paris Saint-Germain are boxes that I tick on my big list. I have two goals left: a European team championship title which is missing from my list of achievements and Los Angeles 2028.”
Riner withdraws from Paris Grand Slam
After winning the European title with his favorite club, Teddy Riner announced that he was giving up participating in the Paris Grand Slam in February. “I'm not ready, that's not the goal for the season. In two or three weeks, I'm heading to the operating room to treat injuries that I should have taken care of before.”
