Judo-France's Cysique and Gaba reach semi-finals

PARIS : France's Sarah-Leonie Cysique and Joan-Benjamin Gaba beat Japanese opponents to reach judo semi-finals at the Paris Olympics on Monday at Champs-de-Mars Arena.

Cysique, a silver medallist in Tokyo, took nine seconds to beat Haruka Funakubo by ippon in the women's under-57kg quarter-finals to the delight of the 8,000 fans packed into the arena.

The atmosphere ratcheted up further when Gaba, making his Olympic debut, took down former world champion Soichi Hashimoto in the last eight of the men's under-73kg.

The aggressive Gaba inflicted three shido (penalties) on his opponent before pointing a single finger to the sky and then to his older brother and parents in the stands.

The French underdog, who beat London 2012 under-66kg gold medallist Lasha Shavdatuashvili in the round of 32, will face Adil Osmanov of Moldova in the semi-finals later on Monday.

All the quarter-finals went to extra time.

Favourite Hidayat Heydarov of Azerbaijan reached the semis after an exhausting battle with Canada's Arthur Margelidon that ran for over 10 minutes, the world champion taking time to catch his breath with his hands on his knees before leaving the mat.

He will face Akil Gjakova of Kosovo for a spot in final.

In the women's competition, Christa Deguchi of Canada easily moved into the last four to set up a clash with Cysique.

The Japan-born 28-year-old is aiming to win Canada's first Olympic title in judo after claiming their first world title in 2019 and adding another last year.

In the other semi-final, South Korea's Huh Mi-mi will face 32-year-old Brazilian Rafaela Silva, who won gold on home soil in Rio in 2016 but was not able to defend her title in Tokyo after testing positive for a banned substance in 2019.

Reigning champion Nora