Judo master loses after 9 undefeated years

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

France’s Teddy Riner suffered his first defeat since 2010 after falling short against Japan’s Kokoro Kageura in the Paris Grand Slam.

Expecting Riner to bag the 155^th straight win of his professional career, the martial arts community was stunned as Riner suffered his first loss after 10 years.

Halting Riner’s 154-match winning streak, the loss comes ironically at the hands of another Japanese fighter. To recall, Riner last tasted defeat against Japanese Daiki Kamikawa in the openweight final at the world championships in Tokyo back in September 2010.

Competing in the 100kg heavyweight category, Riner cemented himself as one of the judo greats, joining judo legend Yasuhiro Yamashita with his incredible 203-win record.

Riner is a ten-time world champion and is considered as one of the greatest title holders in the history of sports together with boxing’s Rocky Marciano with a 49-match winning streak, Julio Cesar Chavez with 87 consecutive wins, and American hurdler Ed Moses who extended his races won to 122.