Day two of the Paris Grand Slam 2025 delivered with more surprises. Starting the semi finals, the -78kg women were up first, and with that, two potential finalists for the home crowd.
Fanny Estelle POSVITE (FRA) took on Olympic silver medallist, Inbar LANIR (ISR) for the first place, but was controlled in ne waza and watched as the clock ticket away, Lanir taking the place in the -78kg final. On the adjoining tatami, the crowd were going crazy for one of their greatest heroes in this tournament, Audrey TCHEUMEO. The six-time winner of the Paris Grand Slam gave her all against Olympic bronze medallist, Patricia SAMPAIO (POR) but was just falling short on attacks and ceded a third shido for passivity. It won’t be the gold medal today for Tcheumeo but there is still a chance for her to find a place on the podium.
It’ll be the first time for both Lanir and Sampaio in a Paris Grand Slam final, and will be an exciting one at that between the two powerhouses!


The -81kg final won’t house any European athletes today, on one side, Nugzari TATALASHVILI (UAE) defeated HOJO Yoshito (JPN), the latter suffered a foot injury in the final movements, unbeknownst to his opponent who secured the winning osae komi. Tatalashvili will go on to meet Francois GAUTHIER DRAPEAU (CAN) in the final, as the Canadian athlete ended the dream of Arnaud AREGBA (FRA) with an ippon-scoring drop seoi nage. Aregba was one of the most incredible athletes in the opening rounds, devastating the likes of Olympic bronze medallist, LEE Joonhwan (KOR). He will now face Matthias CASSE (BEL) for bronze.
Margit DE VOOGD (NED) has made a sensational comeback to the sport following injury, all the way to the Paris -70kg semi final where she found herself narrowly missing out to HONDA Mayu (JPN). It was a golden score yuko awarded to Honda, who wrapped things up in ne waza. The French were hoping Lucie JARROT could take a place in the final, but on the other side of the draw Ai TSUNODA ROUSTANT was determined to repeat her 2023 success and become the Paris winner once more. A stunning standing seoi nage put her one step closer to that dream.

Luka MAISURADZE (GEO) is back. The former World Champion took on the current -90kg World Champion, TAJIMA Goki (JPN) in his semi final, and in just over a minute scored waza ari with a strong o soto gari, migrating to a maki komi ending to ensure rotation. Maisuradze then managed to keep up his offence against Tajima who simply couldn’t fight his way to even the score. KIM Jonghoon (KOR) took the second final place, defeating Maxime-Gael NGAYAP HAMBOU (FRA) with only a few seconds left on the clock, a mere yuko from an over roll decided the final fate.
As in the -81kg, Europe won’t have the opportunity to celebrate a gold medal in the -100kg category as Dzhafar KOSTOEV (UAE) took a risk as he entered golden score against Azhdar BAGHIROV (AZE). In 2023, Kostoev was forced to settle for the silver medal here in Paris, Michael KORREL (NED) the victor on that occasion. Kostoev will take on ne waza specialist, Leonardo GONCALVES (BRA) for the gold medal this year, as he defeated Jorge FONSECA (POR) with juji gatame.

Lea FONTAINE will be flying the French flag in the +78kg final, defeating KIM Hayun (KOR) in the semi final with an o uchi gari to score yuko. Now she has one win against the Republic of Korea, she needs to prepare for Kim’s team mate, LEE Hyeonji, the current Junior World Champion. Lee was evidently stronger than her semi final opponent, ARAI Mao (JPN), using te waza to score the ippon.
LEE Seungyeob (KOR) managed to defeat Saba INANEISHVILI (GEO) in the first +100kg semi final, besting him two yuko scores to one. Inanieshvili managed to even the score in the final minute, but was over rolled with 32 seconds left on the clock. Inal TASOEV (IJF) made his big return to Paris today and conquered his opponents in true fashion, and his last stepping stone to the final was Toma NIKIFOROV (BEL). A kata guruma in the first 20 seconds brought him the win, with Nikiforov unable to make a comeback against the former World and current European Champion.

Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen