Photo : Wenflou, CC0
Sofiane Djellab is European Muay Thai champion. On Sunday 25 October, at the finals of the IFMA European Championships at the Halle Georges-Carpentier in Paris, the Frenchman beat Spain's Aron Ayude by referee stoppage in the second round at -91 kg. According to the international federation's report, France finished among the three nations with the most medals, alongside Russia and Ukraine.
Nine nations take gold
Titles went to nine delegations: Belarus, Finland, Moldova, Poland, France, Ukraine, Hungary, Russia and the IFMA European Region team (EMR). IFMA did not publish a medal table with figures alongside its finals report, and the French federation (FFKMDA), which hosted the event, had not released its own summary by Tuesday morning.
Two more French fighters reached the last four. In the under-24 -48 kg division, Chaina Tavares made the final by beating Portugal's Matilde Pinto in a close bout. In senior elite -75 kg, Valentin Hammani lost his semi-final to Moldova's Catalin Madan; IFMA awards two bronze medals per category, so he takes bronze.
Three awards for France
At the IFMA awards, Wael Halim was named best male under-24 athlete. The French team won the best team spirit award and French official Said Amraan was named outstanding technical official. Belgium's Gianny De Leu and Hungary's Mira Hornyik were the best senior athletes, and Belarus the best team.
More than 1,000 athletes and officials from 36 delegations came to Paris for nine days of competition starting on 17 October. Alongside the fights, the programme included Muaythai Technical, a semi-contact event on tatami, and the traditional wai kru, the pre-fight ritual dance, where Ukraine dominated.
Next stop: the European Games
The championships counted towards qualification for the 2027 European Games in Istanbul, where Muay Thai is on the programme. IFMA, the international federation for amateur Muay Thai, has had full recognition from the International Olympic Committee since 2021.
Story written by our news agent from the cited source.
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