Montreal, August 28, 2015 – Competing for the first time in the World Judo Championships, Alix Renaud-Roy, ranked 32^nd in the world, came in ninth in the Under 70kg class this Friday in Astana, Kazakhstan.

After beating Luxembourg’s Lynn Mossong with a waza-ari, Renaud-Roy was up against French Gevrise Emane, who disposed of the La Pocatière native with an ippon and went on to become the world’s champion in the category. 

“Alix was in control during the first bout,” said national coach Nicolas Gill. “She scored a waza-ari and stayed on top the rest of the fight. The first half of the match against the eventual world champion was pretty balanced, until the French athlete got an ippon in. All in all, it’s been a great first time at the World Champs for Alix.”

“I fought Mossong six months ago and I won by shido, so I knew I was up to the challenge,” said Renaud-Roy.

“I knew my second fight wasn’t going to be easy and that I had to follow the game plan I set with my coach to win,” she added. “Unfortunately, even though I started out strong and we both had a shido each, she got a waza-ari from a standing position, and then she managed to pin me down.”

In spite of her elimination, Renaud-Roy sees her first World Champs experience in a good light. “I am really happy I won the first bout, but I know that I obviously need to keep working hard,” said the athlete, who is returning home to go back to training and to school.

In the same weight class, Whitby’s Kelita Zupancic, 4^th in the world, didn’t do as well as expected. The Ontario native, Montreal-based judoka didn’t make it past her first match.

Exempted from the opening round, she was pitted against French Fanny Estelle Posvite, 14^th in the Under 70kg class world rank and holder of several medals from international competitions. Zupancic, who won the Toronto PanAms in July this year, was caught by surprise by a yuko. 

“It was tight at the beginning, with the French judoka leading by two penalties against one,” said Gill. “Kelita had to open up and ended up taking a yuko. Unfortunately, it wasn’t what we expected from Kelita. Now we have to sit down when we get back home and analyze her preparation so we can fine-tune for Rio.”

After taking Zupancic down, Posvite went on to win one of the two bronze medals for her weight division.

This Saturday, the last day of the Astana World Championships, Kyle Reyes will be competing in the Under 100kg.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada