The young French judoka Adrian Juproy fulfilled a dream: he climbed on the same mat with the legendary idol Teddy Riner and trained with him for several days as part of a training camp in France. The dream shattered on Wednesday when the two went into battle as part of training, a battle he ended on his back and with a tear in the cruciate ligament, several fractures and damage to the patella and miniscus.
Joffrey was rushed to emergency surgery at a hospital in Paris and awaits a particularly long rehabilitation period. “I was fighting Teddy, and we did a leg-to-leg attack. I wanted to make a defensive move and my knee just came out of place, while he was attacking and she broke down,” Joffrey recalled from the hospital bed. “I felt paralyzed. It’s so painful.”
Riner. Unaware of his power?
(Photo: AFP)
This is a severe blow for the young man who recently decided to dedicate himself only to judo in an attempt to become an international-level athlete in the over 100kg weight category.
In an interview with a French newspaper, Joffrey said that Riner took the injury hard: “He was really sad that this is how it ended. He picked me up from the mattress and we understood that there was a fracture and a serious injury. I will try to rehabilitate and hope to return to practice next summer.”