French Judoka Earns Third Place in Austria

Maxime-Gaël N’Gayap Hambou secured a bronze medal at the Grand Prix Upper Austria 2026, demonstrating his experience in the -90kg weight class. The 24-year-aged Olympic medalist navigated a challenging bracket, securing victories against Bosnia’s Toni Miletic and Croatia’s Dominik Druzeta before ultimately falling in the semi-finals.

Tournament Recap

N’Gayap Hambou’s path to the bronze medal included a decisive ko-uchi-gari against Miletic and an tani-otoshi against Druzeta. He faced Georgia’s Luka Javakhishvili in the semi-final, where he was defeated. He then capitalized on a missed attack from Spain’s Aaron Santamaria Rodriguez to claim the bronze.

“A bronze medal cannot be refused on a day when the Asniérois will not have met any judoka better ranked than him.”

Lespritdujudo.com

Other French Performances

Other French athletes also competed at the Grand Prix. Léonie Minkada-Caquineau finished just off the podium in the +78kg category, while Mathéo Akiana-Mongo placed seventh in the +100kg division.

• Léonie Minkada-Caquineau lost a bronze medal match to Israel’s Yuli Alma Mishiner.
• Mathéo Akiana-Mongo was defeated by Turkey’s Ibrahim Tataroglu and Finland’s Martti Puumalainen.

Tournament Highlights

Tato Grigalashvili won the -90kg category, while Raz Hershko secured gold in the +78kg category. Ibrahim Tataroglu claimed victory in the +100kg division, and Marie Branser of Guinea surprised competitors with a win in the -78kg category.