Amandine Buchard shows golden preparation for 2022

Amandine Buchard was the undisputed favourite for gold in Abu Dhabi. At the first day the silver medallist of the last Olympic Games reached the final U52kg which had an attractive field with some top class women.

Thanks to her dazzling kata-guruma Amandine Buchard was opposed to Chelsie Giles (GBR), also a medallist in Tokyo this summer. It became clear that the two competitors had no real competition in front of them in Abu Dhabi.

Leading with a head to head statistic of 2-0 against Giles, Buchard stepped on to the tatami with confidence and determination to add one more victory to the list, but the British athlete has proved in recent months that she is among the top athletes of the category, especially with her ne-waza skills. While Buchard has been on top of her art for quite a while, Giles has been emerging over the past two years. As the final unfolded, the latter was penalised twice for passivity as Buchard was always first to attack. The third penalty logically fell within the last minute, Giles being totally blocked from attacking. Buchard is still the stronger athlete. She came with a plan and she applied it perfectly.

Amandine Buchard said: "I asked my coaches to let me be here. It is my first event after the Olympic Games. I wanted to feel how I would fight and this event is a part of the preparation for the 2022 Paris Grand Slam. I enjoyed this competition. I won gold and now my next event is the European Golden League and then Paris."

Gefen Primo (ISR) could not repeat her impeccable run during the grand slam in Paris, as she had to bow to Giles in the semi-final. Qualified for the bronze medal match, Primo faced Aleksandra Kaleta (POL), third in Antalya in April. Gefen Primo entered the tatami determined to add one more medal to her already quite rich prize list and she quickly scored a first waza-ari with an eri-seoi-nage to put her in a good position, which was confirmed very fast as Kaleta was penalised three times for hansoku-make.

We must note the fine performance of the African champion Soumiya Iraoui of Morocco, who reached the match for a bronze medal against the Mongolian Khorloodoi Bishrelt, previously beaten by Buchard. Iraoui was faster in action with several deep sode-tsuri-komi-goshi attacks, but not deep enough to score. With 90 seconds left, Khorloodoi Bishrelt scored a clean ippon with an unusual uchi-mata that put the African champion flat on her back to win her fourth medal in a grand slam.