“We will have to work harder”: Ngayap Hambou eliminated, new French disappointment at the Judo Worlds

“I came to slam my medal”: full of “regrets”, Maxime-Gaël Ngayap Hambou (-90 kg) was eliminated in his second fight during the World Championships in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday and will have to “work harder » to be ready for the Olympics. Five out of five: Ngayap Hambou is the fifth Olympic selection from the French men’s team to leave these 2024 Worlds without a medal, two months before the Games.

Before the 22-year-old judoka, Luka Mkheidze (-60 k), Walide Khyar (-66 kg), Joan-Benjamin Gaba (-73 kg) and Alpha Djalo (-81 kg) have also failed since Sunday. Also entered in -90 kg, only Alexis Mathieu, who was not taken for the Games, can save the honor of the men’s team.

“MG” started with a logical victory against the Mauritian Rémi Feuillet, before coming up against the Spaniard Tristani Mosakhlishvili. Trailing by the score (waza-ari), he was then beaten by ippon. After his beautiful bronze medal at the Grand Slam in Paris at the start of the year, he is struggling to confirm and will have to “work extra hard” to be ready for the Olympics.

After his beautiful bronze medal at the Grand Slam in Paris at the start of the year, he is struggling to confirm and will have to “work extra hard” to be ready for the Olympics.

“I had the desire but the desire is not enough, you have to be efficient, precise, and today I was not,” he summed up. “I have regrets,” continued the Frenchman, who lacked “attack preparation, precision on the hands, on the kumi-kata”, the guard hold.

“In the heat of the moment it’s a big blow to morale, we’re going to have to work, there are still two months left, we’re going to have to work harder,” he projected. Guillaume Fort, his reference coach for the French team, also found that his protégé lacked “rigor on the kumi-kata”.

Against the Spaniard, “he never managed to adjust the distance, to take the initiative, he produced attacks under pressure, while fleeing. He never managed to build while the Spaniard managed to gain strength,” he analyzed. Before the Olympics, there are “adjustments to be made”. The final countdown is on.