Montréal, September 21, 2014 – The judoka Alix Renaud-Roy took home top honours in the under 70 kg category, Sunday, at the European Cup presented in Tampere, Finland. Zachary Burt also had a fine outing, placing third in the under 81 kg class.

The Quebecoise judoka won all four of her bouts in convincing fashion. She began her day with easy wins over the Finn Alexandra Barton and the Swiss Désirée Gabriel. She added a third victory versus another Finn, Jasmine Aho, and then finished off her perfect run with a win in the gold medal match against the Russian Valeri Shishmareva.

“Everything went really well today,” Renaud-Roy affirmed. “I won all four of my bouts very quickly, all on the ground.”

“I admit that the category I was in wasn’t very tough today; there definitely weren’t any really excellent judokas present. It’s a European Cup, so there will always be less talent than at a World Cup event.  There were some French athletes, just not in my category. I’m well aware, then, that compared to other weight classes, -70 kg was not as competitive,” she concluded.

On the men’s side at -81 kg, Zachary Burt came away with a bronze medal after winning three of his four matches. His only defeat came in his third bout, where he fell to the Frenchman Antoine Jeannin. This loss placed him directly in the bronze medal bout, which he won against the Russian Ivan Pakhomov.

“I had hoped to make the finale, but I just wasn’t at my best today. In the end I was happy to come back and win the bronze medal,” Burt commented.

“The key to my win against the Russian was by starting fast, keeping the pace at a high level, and eventually tiring him out,” he explained. “His cardio was pretty bad, so I knew that if I could keep the match at a high pace he would die in the last few minutes.”

The other Canadian in action on Sunday, Martin Rygielski (+100 kg), lost all four of his bouts on the day.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada