Paris (AFP)

Despite the progressive deconfinement, combat sports remain plunged in great uncertainty and subjected to a double penalty with the cessation of competitions and the prohibition of contacts in training, but try as best they can to adapt.

The situation has hardly changed since June 2 despite the return to Insep of certain collectives of the France team (judo from mid-May, boxing and wrestling in early June). Four days before, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe had showered their hopes by declaring that "contact sports will remain prohibited because they do not allow by nature to respect physical distancing".

The athletes, already affected by the postponement to the summer of 2021 of the Tokyo Olympics, are therefore authorized to resume the sessions but without the possibility of hand-to-hand combat.

To try to loosen this noose and get the green light for training contacts from June 2, the main combat sports federations have tried to join forces by proposing an alternative protocol, notably with the creation of fixed pairs and strict health rules (no public transport, hands and feet washed with hydroalcoholic gel, personal flask, disinfection of equipment ...). But the government did not want to go so fast and maintained its restrictions.

"We are a bit bored," said AFP Jean-Claude Senaud, National Technical Director (DTN) of the French Judo Federation. "It's a bit hard for the athletes now that normalcy is back on top, that the containment is successful. They will find it hard to hold on."

- "Poor relative" -

"We are really in nothing for the moment, we are the poor relation of the government", thunders André Martin, the president of the French Boxing Federation.

Everyone is looking forward to future announcements regarding the next phase of deconfinement. The judo Olympic group, made up of around thirty members, hopes to be able to "touch up the kimono" during a course planned at Les Ménuires, from June 22 to July 1. Until then, they are content with physical work and exercises with mannequins.

Beyond the training conditions, the vagueness surrounding the calendar of competitions also constitutes "a headache", according to the DTN of judo. "A high-level sportsman, he has to project himself. There, they are a bit clueless," he explains.

The manager of the French boxing team John Dovi, who found his troops on June 2 at Insep for the first time since the sudden cessation of the Olympic qualification tournament in London on March 16, also claims to "sail to view ", even if he crosses his fingers for a resumption of the tournaments" from September ".

Without real visibility on the future, the technician, who has planned two other internships this summer, prefers to play the pragmatism card.

- No need to rush -

"We cannot make oppositions but we do physical work with progressiveness. We adapt to situations. The goal, anyway, is first to find ourselves. There is no sporting constraint We have time right now. There is no point in rushing things around. Two weeks ago, we were in a state of uncertainty because we did not know what the conditions of training, accommodation and catering at Insep. On that side, things are much better, "he said.

Karate, like taekwondo, just did not see fit to resume.

"We are thinking about different health protocols and we also have time to see if there will be an opening for physical contact from June 22," said Yann Baillon, director of the teams in France, stressing that the context is not easy to manage psychologically either for its athletes.

A feeling perfectly summed up by Alexandra Recchia, double world champion under 50 kg.

"I miss group training, I miss competitions," she wrote in a long message posted on Instagram about the upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

© 2020 AFP