The 2023 European champion Luka Mkheidze (-60 kg) and four other French judokas selected for Olympics will participate in the World Judo Championships in Abu Dhabi (May 19-24), two months before the Paris Games, announced the French federation Wednesday.
Bronze medalist at the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, Luka Mkheidze will be accompanied in the Emirates by Walide Khyar (-66 kg), world bronze medalist last year, Joan Benjamin Gaba (-73kg), Alpha Djalo (-81 kg) and Maxime -Gaël Ngayap Hambou (-90kg) for this final competition before the big Parisian meeting (July 27-August 2 for judo).
Among the women, Clarisse Agbégnénou (-63 kg) had already been announced for the Worlds. In 2021, she also decided to participate in the pre-Olympic Worlds, winning the gold medal before her Olympic title.
Teddy Riner (100 kg), who is expected at the Antalya Grand Slam in Turkey (March 29-31), has not yet revealed his program on the road to a hoped-for third individual Olympic title.