Fight. The Federation in difficulty after Worlds in the red

The French Fighting Federation (FFL) has asked "to be placed under the protection of justice", one year after the 2017 Worlds in Paris, which left a deficit and claims of more than 1 million euros.

The French Fighting Federation (FFL) has asked " to be placed under the protection of justice ", one year after the 2017 Worlds in Paris, which left a deficit and claims of more than 1 million euros. As revealed by Le Parisien , a hearing is scheduled for 19 November at the tribunal de grande instance (TGI) of Créteil, seized by the Federation to "reorganize the claims of third parties," said Alain Bertholom, the president of the Federation.

The Federation was not directly responsible for the budget of the 2017 World Wrestling Championships held from August 21st to 26th in Bercy. A separate organization committee had been set up between the FFL, the regional committee of Ile-de-France and the Parisian one. But this organizing committee found itself in the red, the Worlds having cost 4.5 million euros, 1.1 million more than expected, said Alain Bertholom.

"The ticket office did not work"

In question, " specifications that have evolved and increased costs ", " security ", more expensive than expected after the attacks of 2015 in Paris and " a ticket office that did not work as we wanted " he also said. According to Alain Bertholom, the world championships were initially to be organized at the end of September, but " we organized them in August so that there was a big event in August to promote Paris' candidature for the Olympic Games in 2024 ". The capital was awarded the Games in September 2017.

The court will have to look into the debts of the organizing committee that remain to be paid. The president of the FFL also said that all loan applications were refused to absorb the deficit. The Federation has an annual budget of 3.5 million euros, with a state grant of about 1.6 million.

There are about 20,000 licensed players in this discipline in France, whose greatest Olympic hope in Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 is Koumba Larroque, silver medalist at the 2018 World Championships in Budapest at the age of 20.