Shirine Boukli secures France’s first Baku medal

Shirine Boukli has delivered France’s first medal at the World Judo Championships in Baku, taking bronze in the women’s under-48kg division. The result gives her a second world medal after the silver she won in Doha in 2023, although her campaign for a first global title ended before the medal rounds.

Boukli began with a win over Burundi’s Signoline Kanyamuneza, who was disqualified after accumulating penalties. Portugal’s Catarina Costa also exited after receiving three penalties in less than three minutes. In the quarter-finals, however, Boukli was eliminated by Marina Voroboeva when a third shido sent the French judoka into the repechage route.

She responded against Brazil’s Clarence Ribeiro, scoring a waza-ari and defending her advantage to the end of regulation. A place on the podium then came down to her contest with Baasankhüü Bavuudorj, the reigning world champion and 2024 Olympic silver medallist. Neither fighter scored during regulation, but Boukli prevailed in the golden-score period as the contest was decided by penalties.

Her medal provides an early lift for France after disappointing results in the men’s under-60kg category. European champion Luka Mkheidze was eliminated in his opening bout by Ayub Bliev after a third penalty with two seconds remaining, while Romain Valadier-Picard also missed out on the podium following a repechage defeat by Giorgi Sardalashvili.