With these two new podiums, the France now has three medals at the end of the first two days of competition after the silver won by Shirine Boukli on Sunday in -48 kg.

Four third-place finishes -- in 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2023--, "That's not nothing. I would like to change the color but I will not spit on this medal," said Buchard (-52 kg).

The Frenchwoman, also Olympic vice-champion in the category in Tokyo, won this medal by dominating the Hungarian Reka Pupp, 3rd in the world.

Before that, she had fallen in the quarterfinals to the formidable Japanese Uta Abe, who inflicted an ippon with 5 seconds left in regulation time.

This is the same Japanese who had already deprived her of the Olympic title in the final of the Tokyo Games and who had stopped her in the semifinals of the previous Worlds.

The Japanese now leads eight wins to one in their head-to-head matches. "It's a competition that will last for years. I train every day to be Olympic champion and world champion so obviously when you have an obstacle in your way, it stings. I'm going to have to work even harder," she said.

The Frenchwoman expressed "a lot of disappointment" about this fight. "Because I come to these types of championships to get big games like this to prepare for the Games as well as possible."

"What was the hardest was to remobilize behind (...) I had a slack in this day and in the end I found the resources to go get this medal, "she said.

A few moments later, Walide Khyar, also 27, won the first world medal of his career with bronze in the -66 kg category.

"I've dreamed it so much that I want to make sure it's not a dream. That's good, that's for sure. I'm happy, I've been waiting for it for a long time," he said.

"Reference competition"

During the day, the Frenchman made it to the semi-finals in convincing fashion, before losing to another member of the Abe family, Hifumi, also an Olympic champion in 2021. The Japanese, "on another planet" according to his coach Daniel Fernandes, sent it with an ippon after 33 seconds.

France's Walide Khyar wins bronze at the World Judo Championships in Doha on May 8, 2023 © KARIM JAAFAR / AFP

But Khyar then beat South Korea's An-Baul, a two-time Olympic medalist, in the bronze medal fight by waza-ari, before running to hug his mother and brother in the stands.

"I was hugely grateful to be here today, I was happy to fight for the France team, that's what carried me throughout the day," said the Frenchman, who took seven years to expand his international record after his European title in 2016.

"I think it's a great benchmark competition. We worked so hard with my club, with the Federation, that I was obliged out of respect for them to arrive ready," he added.

It offers the men's delegation its first medal since 2019 and the bronze of Axel Clerget in -90 kg, an important argument for the selection for the Paris Olympics. "We think about it," he said.

The two executioners of the Blues, Uta and Hifumi Abe, won the two titles of the day.

© 2023 AFP