He is the one who did a Jodan Mawashi to Mister Sajad Ganjzadeh ! Mehdi Filali (+84 kg), just 20 years old, already has 9 podiums in Karate 1 and has won all the world top fighters, but has only one win and it starts to tease him seriously. In Santiago de Chile, at the World Youth championships that start today (October 23-27). he wants to go straight to the point : win !
By Ludovic Mauchien / Photo : Kphotos
Few people can say they slam a Mawashi in the head of Sajad Ganjzadeh. Mehdi Filali can do it ! He did it ! It was in January 2018, in the Paris Open final. Led, a bit teased by the Iranian world champion, the young 18-year-old from Marseille, not impressed for a penny, launches for all answer his right leg. Full target ! Beautiful ! “The leg he puts in the head Sajad ! I just liked ! It was not counted, they put him contact, but that's a detail”, laughs Steven Da Costa, the -67 kg World champion, his close friend. That day, many said that Seydina Baldé had (finally) a successor in France. The character and karate Mehdi Filali showed created high hopes.
Built by Alexandre Biamonti in Marseille for 10 years, then in the French national teams center, where he met Steven, Mehdi Filali (1.92 m, 86 kg) had just won the Junior European championships in 2017. Suddenly, he changed dimension. And he was going to confirm... U21 European championships runner-up in the wake (beaten Belarus Vodchyts), he shines again in Rotterdam (3rd) and, especially, at the Rabat K1, that he wins in a new fight against Jonathan Horne (4-2), his only win in Seniors to date.
“He is very strong ! His Karate is simple and effective”, says Steven Da Costa. "He's good everywhere. He is regular whereas he is very young. Frankly, what he does, it’s great !”.
His brilliance of 2018 propelled him into the limelight and... in the eye of the cameras of foreign coaches. In a few months, Mehdi Filali has gone from being a young and almost unknown Junior to a Top guns danger. His opponents have necessarily studied more closely since. He then knows a worse stroke. Remember that he is not yet 19 years old. He quickly lost at the European championships (2nd round against Kvesic, 0-0) and, in the fall, at the World championships (2nd round against Yamanoglu, 2-1).
He is affected. The time is for reflection, for questioning to get down to work, refine, simplify, propose, create. The outcome ? In 2019, he starts the year with a 3rd place in Paris (lose in ½ final against Abazari) and a final in Dubai (beats Horne and loses against Kagawa).
At the European championships, he fell on a new bone, Arkania in round of 16 (1-0). A new disappointment. For now, it's the last. Since ? 3 podiums in a row in K1 before these U21 World championships. Shanghai, Tokyo and Moscow, each time he ranks 3rd, which begins to seriously annoy him... “Being on the podium is a good point”, he told us in Moscow, “but it means you didn’t win”. In short, there is a little fed up, only victory is beautiful for him.
For his defense, the competition is brilliant among the heavyweights. Iran’s Ganjzadeh, 3-times World finalist (1st in 2016), Germany’s Horne, the reigning World champion, Turkey’s Yamanoglu, 3rd of the Worlds, Georgia’s Arkania... That’s... heavy ! That’s the old ones too.
None will be in Santiago, where Mehdi Filali looks as the favorite for the U21 title, a competition that does not count for the Olympic standing in which he appeared in the 14th place before the K1 of Moscow, the last update (9th if we consider the Japanese qualified ex officio and the rule of one representative per country). He is to some 3000 points of the 4th and last qualified (1 win in K1 yields almost 1000 points).
This sports enthusiast, who has been nurtured in karate by the videos of Rafael Aghayev and Alexandre Biamonti, has not said his last word. At just 20, he already has 9 podiums in Karate 1 including a win (Rabat 2018). And he rarely loses by more than a point of difference. The margin is tight, the detail is tiny between silver and gold. But he goes up, he goes up, little Mehdi... From Marseille to Paris first, then to Mont-Saint-Martin, where he took a licencse to the Da Costa brothers club. “I wish him the best”, says Steven Da Costa. “I first hope that he's going to win the U21 Worlds and then he'll have a great career. He is like my brothers. He is part of the family. He's quiet, he's funny. We have a lot fo fun”. It only remains to wish Mehdi Filali that things are smiling for him in Chile.
Football, his idols, his must-do in karate...
