Montreal, July 1, 2017 – Canada added two more medals to its collection at China’s Hohhot Grand Prix on Saturday: gold for Antoine Valois-Fortier (U81 kg) and silver for Arthur Margelidon (U73 kg). Meanwhile, in Cancun, several Canadians were awarded bronze medals at the Pan-American Junior Championships being held in Mexico.

Valois-Fortier put in a perfect performance at today’s event. He threw his first two opponents of the day to win by ippon and waza-ari. In the semi-finals, the Beauport resident overpowered his Hungarian opponent, Laszlo Csoknyai, to claim another victory by waza-ari. His Russian opponent, Alan Khubetsov, met the same fate in the finals, when Valois-Fortier scored another waza-ari for the win.

“This was Antoine’s third competition since the Rio Olympic Games and since his surgery. It was a great comeback and is a great confidence booster for him ahead of the World Championships in August. Antoine dominated the finals tactically against the Russian player and eventually scored on him in golden score,” stated Sasha Mehmedovic, coach of Canada’s national women’s team.

Étienne Briand of Sept-Îles also competed in the U81 kg division, recording one victory and one defeat in the preliminary rounds. His day came to an end in the repechage when Italy’s Antonio Esposito weighed in with an ippon, relegating Briand to seventh place.

In U73 kg action, Arthur Margelidon began his day with two victories by ippon. He kept up his winning streak into the semi-finals, scoring his third ippon of the day against Russia’s Denis Iartcev. China’s SaiYinjirigala put the brakes on the Montrealer in the gold medal final when he scored a waza-ari to snag the medal.

“Arthur had a fantastic day. The result of the final was questionable, however, as I strongly believe that the referee made some wrong calls that favoured the Chinese judoka,” claimed Mehmedovic. “This was a great performance by Margelidon and a great confidence booster leading up to the World Championships.”

Stéfanie Tremblay also competed in Hohhot (U63 kg) but did not rank.

Five Bronze Medals in Cancun

Several Canadians shone at the Pan-American Junior Championships in Cancun, where a total of five bronze medals were added to Canada’s medal count.

Alex Marineau (three wins and one loss) faced off against Alexandre Arencibia (two wins and two losses) in the U81 kg bronze medal final. Marineau claimed the medal by scoring an ippon only 40 seconds into the match, pushing his teammate into fifth place.

Léa Roy (U48 kg) had a third place finish. She started out strong with a win in the preliminaries but bowed out to Brazil’s Larissa Pimenta in the semi-final. However, she came back to win the bronze medal by ippon in her final bout against Mexico’s Pilar Olvera.

Marie Besson (U52 kg) racked up two wins before losing to Brazil’s Jessica Lima, who scored an ippon in the semi-final. In the bronze medal final, Besson outmanoeuvred Lorena De Jesus Alcantara of the Dominican Republic, winning the bout by ippon.

In the fight for third place in the U70 kg class, Adriana Portuondo-Isasi sent Peru’s Camila Figueroa Aquino packing when she scored an ippon.

Allayah Copeland (U78 kg) also won her fight for a bronze medal, defeating Alisson Suquilanda of Ecuador by waza-ari. Earlier in the day, the Canadian judoka won her preliminary match but lost her semi-final match against Diana Brenes of Costa Rica.

Kaegan Young, who won the cadets’ U66 kg bronze medal on Friday, placed fifth in the juniors today with a record of two victories and two defeats. He lost his final combat of the day against Argentina’s Minoru Tamashiro, who won by waza-ari.

Aidos Sapenov (U55 kg) and Anne Martin (U63 kg) were eliminated in the repechage and finished in seventh place.

Andrée-Anne Somers (U44 kg), Kiera Westlake (U52 kg), Yumi Amal Bellali (U57 kg), Christian Dametto (U55 kg), Benjamin Daviau (U60 kg), Joel Demaere (U60 kg), Annabelle Darlow (+78 kg), and Thomas Badat (U90 kg) did not rank.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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