Étienne Briand had a day in two stages on Saturday, at the Grand Slam in Tbilisi, Georgia. After signing a convincing victory from the start, the Canadian judoka had to admit defeat against a familiar opponent in the third round of the -81 kg draw.
Posted at 1:21 p.m.
For the occasion, Briand had an appointment with Zelim Tckaev, an athlete he had already faced many times during preparatory camps and who stood out with his unique style. Everything gave way to a fiercely contested duel which ended in victory for the representative of Azerbaijan.
“I had already trained with Tckaev and I remembered that it could be quite complicated to fight against him. He’s a guy who has a very good technique, but who has a rather weird timing. I knew it was going to be a good challenge, ”launched Briand, who was unable to contain the many attacks from the Azeri.
The latter showed his colors early in the fight by scoring a waza-ari from the first minute. He then kept up the pace before closing the engagement a minute later by throwing Briand to the ground a second time to win by ippon.
“I was really surprised! I didn’t expect him to be able to knock me down on the waza-ari and I had to do some catch-up judo. I tried to come back but was unable to find the opening and he took advantage of a mistake to end the fight by ippon. He particularly surprised me,” conceded Briand at the end of the day.
Despite this defeat, the maple leaf judoka will take positives from this Grand Slam, starting with his triumph against Frenchman Tizie Gnamien, another well-known rival.
“I did really well against him,” continued Briand. He was also a former sparring partner and I was very confident that I could knock him down. He started strong with a waza-ari, but I was able to come back by scoring before winning by ippon. I executed well and it was a very good fight for me. »
South Korean Joonhwan Lee was crowned at the end of the tournament thanks to a victory against Georgian Tato Grigalashvili in the grand final. For his part, Zelim Tckaev reached one of the two bronze finals, where he lost his flag against Uzbek Sharofiddin Bolaboev. Azeri Eljan Hajiyev completed the podium by beating Italy’s Tiziano Falcone in the other duel for third place.
Canada’s only representative in action in Tbilisi, Étienne Briand will take advantage of a few days off before returning to the country where another challenge awaits him, but this time outside the tatami.
“I’ve been gone for almost a month, because I had a camp in Italy, so I’m going to have to get back to my research fairly quickly, laughed the one who is pursuing his doctorate in the economics department of UQAM. I took advantage of it in the last few weeks, because I know that studies will keep me busy this summer! »