French Judoka Teddy Pierre-Marie Riner has had a historic ten-year unbeaten streak come to an end. This streak consisted of 154 consecutive matches against the best Judoka in the world and has made Riner the first person to win Ten World Championship gold medals while also giving him two Olympic Gold Medals. This unprecedented run has garnered Riner immense respect as one of the best Judoka to have ever competed.
This incredible run came crashing down at The Paris Grand Slam when Teddy Riner came up against the world number two, Japanese Judoka Kokoro Kageura. Kageura has only just won his first World Championships gold medal last year and is only 24, while Riner is coming towards the tail-end of his career at 30. It was Riner’s third match at The Paris Grand Slam and they had already fought to a tie in regular time. As the match moved to the golden score period, Riner attacked with a solid Uchi Mata attempt. Unfortunately for Riner, while his leg was in the air and he was off balance Kageura launched a split-second counter-attack and pulled him by the sleeve to land the winning Wa Zari.
The win put Kageura into the final against Henk Grol, the Dutch Olympic medalist Judoka. Experience won out over youth this time however as Grol took first place at The Paris Grand Slam.
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