Romane Dicko confirms world class act in Doha

There is definitely a parallel between Teddy Riner and French youngster Romane Dicko. At young age they have reached world class level. Dicko was European senior Champion at the age of 18 and over the last 365 days she won the Paris Grand Slam, European Championships and the IJF World Masters in Doha. We can say the is the most successful athlete over the last year to date.

The +78 kg category began with a performance by Romane Dicko, who eliminated the legend Idalys Ortiz (CUB), Olympic and world champion, in the first round. With a win on her side the Frenchwoman pushed the momentum all the way to the final, where she faced Iryna Kindzerska (AZE), winner of all her matches by ippon.

Romane Dicko didn't need more than half of the regular time to score a waza-ari that she followed to the floor to hold Kindzerska for ippon, winning her first gold medal at the Masters. Dicko is definitely entering the group of athletes who have a good chance of a medal at the Olympic Games.

We found, for third place, a 100% African match between Nihel Cheikh Rouhou (TUN) and Hortence Vanessa Mballa Atangana (CMR), winner of their recent continental championships. with only a few seconds left on the scoreboard, Mballa atangana tried to score but Cheikh Rouhou avoided the attack and immediately followed to the floor for ippon. This was a first bronze medal at the Masters for the Tunisian.

The second bronze medal was disputed between Kim Hayun (KOR) and Kayra Sayit (TUR). After forty seconds of golden score and nothing other than penalties displayed on the scoreboard, Kayra Sayit finally scored a waza-ari before she was congratulated by her coach.

At the end of the third day of competition, the best male and female athletes were recognised based on the number of ippon scores and the total time spent on the tatami, based on the fact that a hansoku-make doesn't count as ippon. Best female athlete: Romane DICKO (FRA) - 4 ippon - 9 minutes and 3 seconds.