Karate: Nesrine Bougrine in the final for bronze!

After a rather disappointing first day, the Belgian delegation engaged in Istanbul found a smile again this Saturday, thanks to two of its young representatives. William Diantete and Nesrine Bougrine are not twenty years old, but they distinguished themselves during this resumption of competitions.

In -84 kg, William Diantete dismissed the Finnish Kulovuori (4-2) before facing off against the world No. 5, the Kazakh Yuldashev (0-0), declared the winner by decision of the referees. Drafted, William eliminated Azeri Abdullayev (0-0), also by decision, then delivered a good fight against the Egyptian Ramadan. While leading 1-0, the Brussels resident was unfortunately disqualified for illegally leaving the tatami. Pity…

Still in -84 kg, exempted from the first round, Anouar Bougrine then lost to the Ukrainian Toroshanko (0-3). Whalid Deghali won his first fight against Jordanian Juaidi (5-0), then resisted world No. 2, Iranian Poorshab (0-1). Drafted, Whalid fell on Hungarian Gyorgy (2-2), victorious for having been the first to score.

In +84 kg, Luca Costa won against the Hungarian Molnar (2-1) before being subjected to the law of the world n ° 2, the Iranian Ganjzadeh (0-7). Drafted, Luca could not cross the Egyptian obstacle Mahmoud (1-3).

On the women’s side, our two karatekas in -61 kg bowed as soon as they entered the competition. Nele De Vos against the Norwegian Alstadsaether (0-0, decision) and Céline Pottiez against the Russian Golubeva (2-3). In -68 kg, Luana Debatty suffered the same fate against the world n ° 3, the Egyptian Abdelaziz (1-6), then against the Austrian Buchinger (0-7). Nawal Ettaleb could not do better against the Croatian Vukoja (2-3).

In this category, the happy surprise came from Nesrine Bougrine (world n ° 148) who will play, this Sunday, the final for the bronze medal after beating the Spaniard Mejias (4-3), then narrowly losing to to the world n ° 5, the Italian Semeraro (6-7), qualified for gold. Drafted, Nesrine still offered two very convincing victories, against the Macedonian Stefanovska (4-1) and the Kosovare Curri (2-1). His opponent for bronze: Azérie Zaretska, world No. 1!

Finally, in +68 kg, Ophélie Mulolo lost to the Swiss Bruederlin (0-3).