The French Amandine Buchard (-52 kg) and Walide Khyar (-66 kg) are in the running for a bronze medal on Monday at the World Judo Championships in Doha.
Amandine Buchard fell in the quarterfinals against the Japanese Uta Abe, Olympic champion in Tokyo, before recovering against the South Korean Jang Seyun in the repechage.
The one who already has three bronze medals at the Worlds will try to get a fourth in the evening against the Hungarian Reka Pupp, 3rd in the world.
On the men’s side, Walide Khyar made it to the semi-finals before losing to fellow Abe family member Hifumi, also an Olympic champion in 2021.
To win a first world medal, he will have to win against the South Korean An Baul.
The third Frenchman entered on Monday, Daikii Bouba, who participated in his first Worlds in this same category of under 66 kg, was eliminated in the second round, released by the Azerbaijani Orkhan Safarov in overtime.