Text: Maël Jeanthon / photos: Denis Sekretev - DALS

With no French competitors, the tone was set from the outset by the lightweights in this final block! With a smile on her face as she stepped into the Marcel-Cerdan spotlight, Spain's Adriana Cerezo seemed to be in the most relaxed mood as she took on 18-year-old Iranian Mobina Nematzadeh in the semi-final. Too relaxed, perhaps? In any case, it was the latter who took the lead first (3-0). It was time to wake up. It was also time for a battle of rare bitterness. The experienced Spaniard, who won the European Games at the end of June, won the second round by the narrowest of margins (1-0), before qualifying for the final after an unbreathable last set (0-0). Will she face the n°1 seed in the final? Her Turkish runner-up Merve Dincel, who qualified without a hitch at the expense of China's Xiaolu Wang, bronze medallist at the last Baku World Championships in the -46kg category (7-0, 8-6). A fitting revenge for the Turkish world champion's semi-final win at the last world championships. How did it go? Adriana Cerezo scored right from the start of an intense fight. More active and closing the distance, Merve Dincel equalized on the gong, taking the first set (1-1) in the process. Bis repetita one hundred and twenty seconds later, with neither fighter having scored yet, the reigning world champion managed to place a kick to the head at the buzzer. 3-0. After three Grand Prix silver medals in 2022, gold smiles on her!

Abolfazl Zandi at ease

Tunisian Mohamed Jendoubi, who defeated Cyrian Ravet in the quarter-finals, was the favorite to beat 2022 world junior champion Abolfazl Zandi. Dominated in the first set (4-6), the Iranian gradually got the better of the world leader in his category. Eight to six in the second set, followed by an authoritative final round for his first Grand Prix final, after winning bronze in Rome in the spring. So, who was it who would try to take the gold from the nineteen-year-old Iranian? None other than the category's national leader, Mahdi Hajimousaei, also a (gold) medallist in the Italian capital a few months ago and clearly on a high. Following in the footsteps of Olympic champion Vito Dell'Aquila, he made short work of Australia's Bailey Lewis - not yet twenty but already a double Oceania champion - to reach an all-Iranian final... which never took place, with Abolfazl Zandi bowing out to his elder brother with no apparent injury.

She knew her eighteenth (!) Grand Prix medal was assured, but thirty-year-old Jade Jones clearly still hasn't had enough. In a duel of experience against world and Olympic medallist Hatice Ilgun, the Welsh fighter played it diesel. The first set was clearly conceded (4-0), followed by a recital from the double Olympic champion. Fairer and more defensively impeccable, the Bodelwyddan native relied on her devastating head kicks and never conceded another point (7-0, 6-0). Earlier, her compatriot Aaliyah Powell once again proved her consistency, qualifying for the last four for the seventh time in a row since the Guadalajara World Championships last year. A metronomic duel against the world leader in the -57kg class, Zongshi Luo, with fourteen consecutive podium finishes between 2019 and 2023, was to turn out in her favor. More experienced and aerial, the Chinese champion respected the hierarchy to claim her sixth Grand Prix final (five victories to date) as the favourite. But lions never die, and Jade Jones remains made of exceptional wood. In a blazing Palais des Sports Marcel Cerdan, to the cheers of the British, the double Olympic champion attacked first, leading from the start of the day's final. It was the start of a deluge of five decisive helmet kicks (10-4, 7-5). The result was a tenth Grand Prix title and a return to the top of the category. And just in time, a year before he takes to the Grand Palais.

THE PODIUMS :

• Women -49kg : 1. DINCEL Merve (TUR) - 2. CEREZO IGLESIAS Adriana (ESP) - 3. NEMATZADEH Mobina (IRI) - 3. WANG Xiaolu (CHN)
• Men -58kg : 1. HAJIMOUSAEI Mahdi (IRI) - 2. ZANDI Abolfazi (IRI) - 3. JENDOUBI Mohamed Khalil (TUR) - 3. LEWIS Bailey (AUS)
• Women -57kg : 1. JONES Jade (GBR) - 2. LUO Zongshi (CHN) - 3. ILGUN Hatice Kubra (TUR) - 3. POWELL Aaliyah (GBR)