Judo-French favourite Agbegnenou and world champion Grigalashvili reach semi-finals

PARIS : France's reigning champion Clarisse Agbegnenou and three-times world champion Georgian Tato Grigalashvili safely reached the judo semi-finals at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.

Agbegnenou, wearing a red, white and blue scrunchie in her hair, brought joy to the crowd in the quarter-finals of the women's under 63kg when she beat Laura Fazliu of Kosovo, who had a 2-0 lead in their head-to-head going into the contest.

The 31-year-old had tougher fights in the early rounds but it took only 34 seconds for the six-times world champion to reach the semi-finals, where she will face Andreja Leski of Slovenia.

World number one Joanne van Lieshout of the Netherlands suffered an early upset in the round of 16 against Kim Ji-su of South Korea.

Miku Takaichi, the only Japanese judoka not to win an individual medal at the Tokyo Olympics, was also knocked out in the round of 16 by Katarina Kristo of Croatia, who is making her Olympic debut in Paris.

Kristo will face Mexican Prisca Awiti Alcaraz in the semi-finals.

Grigalashvili, the world champion for the last three years, will face 22-year-old South Korean Lee Joon-hwan in the men's under 81kg semi-final.

In the other semi-final, reigning Olympic champion Takanori Nagase of Japan will face Italian Antonio Esposito.