Kaïla Issoufi wins world judo silver in the under-78kg division

The French judoka lost the final to Yelyzaveta Lytvynenko of the United Arab Emirates, who secured the victory by ippon.

France’s Kaïla Issoufi won silver in the under-78kg category at the world judo championships in Baku. In the final, she was defeated by Yelyzaveta Lytvynenko of the United Arab Emirates. Lytvynenko took the lead with a waza-ari before finishing the bout by ippon with less than a minute remaining.

Issoufi reached the final after beating the tournament’s top seed, Germany’s Anna Monta Olek, in the semifinal. The 25-year-old was competing at a world championship for the first time. Her silver was France’s first of that color at the event, where Shirine Boukli and Dayyan Boulemtafes had earlier won bronze medals.

The result capped a strong season for Issoufi. She won the Tashkent Grand Slam in March and took bronze at the European championships in Georgia in April. Another French judoka in the under-78kg class, Audrey Tcheumeo, was eliminated in the round of 16 by Lytvynenko.