Doha (AFP)
Teddy Riner (+100 kg) qualified for the Masters final for his return to the international tatami mats almost a year after his loss in the Paris tournament on Wednesday in Doha.
The reigning double Olympic champion and ten-time world champion will face Russian Inal Tasoev, world No. 3 in the category, around 7 p.m. local (5 p.m. French).
In the semifinals, Riner (31), who aims to afford a third Olympic coronation in Tokyo next summer - unprecedented in heavyweight -, dismissed the Ukrainian Yakiv Khammo with a quick waza-ari marked on a hip movement.
Previously, the French judoka had passed his first three laps by ippon, at the expense of the Dutchman Roy Meyer, the young Georgian Gela Zaalishvili and the Russian Tamerlan Bashaev.
Hisayoshi Harasawa, the Japanese selected for the Olympics-2020 in heavyweight and the victim of Riner in the Olympic final in Rio, injured himself as soon as he entered the running by falling on his right side.
The world No. 2 of +100 kg was evacuated from the carpet on a stretcher.
Last February, Riner saw his more than nine-year-long invincibility end in the third round of the Paris tournament, against Japanese N.2 Kokoro Kageura, after 154 consecutive fights.
The Covid-19 pandemic then greatly upset the competition calendar, in particular with the postponement of the Tokyo Games for one year.
© 2021 AFP