Luka Mkheidze and Shirine Boukli have won France's first two medals of the Paris Olympics in judo, with Mkheidze claiming silver and Boukli winning bronze in the men's 60kg division.
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Mkheidze lost 1-0 to Yeldos Smetov of Kazakhstan in the final, disappointing a raucous crowd at Champ-de-Mars Arena.
The No. 3-seeded Mkheidze made an impressive rally through the bracket in the lightest men's weight class, but he couldn't score against Smetov, who became the first Kazakh gold medal-winning judoka after taking home silver and bronze from the two previous Olympics.
About 30 minutes before Mkheidze's loss, Boukli claimed France's first medal of its home Olympics with a victory over Spain's Laura Martinez in the bronze-medal match.
The powerful French judo team - which includes Olympic cauldron-lighting heavyweight Teddy Riner - is off to a strong start.
"It was magical, it was incredible," Boukli said. "It is a great crowd that spreads positive vibes. It makes me want to roll over anything. I feel like this is historic."
Australian Associated Press
