Montreal, July 9, 2017 – Antoine Valois-Fortier’s preparations for the World Championships are running smoothly. After bring crowned champion of the Hohhot Grand Prix last week, he clinched the gold medal at the Asia Open on Sunday in Taipei, Taiwan.

Antoine Valois-Fortier with his medal

The judoka from Beauport scored ippons in all three of his bouts in the U81 kg division. He defeated Tseng Wen of Taipei in the preliminary round and Lim Jooyong of South Korea in the semi-final. In the final, he faced off against another local judoka, Chang Wei-Cheng.

“The level of competition here wasn’t very high but I’m glad to have beaten the Korean, who is at my level, and to have won all my bouts by ippon,” commented Valois-Fortier.

The Québécois’s goal has been to compete in as many matches as possible before the World Championships. “I had to take a few months off after my hip operation so I really want to make sure I’ll be ready for August,” he specified.

Two Canadians on the Podium in Gdynia

Canada added two medals to its collection at the Junior European Cup in Gdynia, Poland.

Émilie Burt (U63 kg) was the gold medal winner in her division. She dominated her two opponents in the preliminaries, winning both her bouts by ippon. Her first opponent was Selina Delen of Belgium and her second was Kataryna Kasza of Poland. In the semi-final, she quickly dispatched of Denmark’s Laerke Olsen before scoring the ippon that gave her the gold medal victory over France’s Yasmine Horlaville.

Emily Burt on the podium

Also competing in the U63 kg group were Anne Martin, Janika Michel, and Hanako Kuno, none of whom made it past the preliminary rounds.

Allayah Copeland was awarded the silver medal in the U78 kg category. Her record remained unblemished until the final round. She scored ippons against Alicja Pietraszewska of Poland, Migle Dudenaite of Lithuania, and Nataliia Pylypenko of Ukraine. In the final, she was caught off-guard by Portugal’s Patricia Sampaio, who won by ippon.

“This has been a very good tournament for Allayah. This is her first medal in Europe. I’m very pleased with her performance,” noted coach Jean-Pierre Cantin.

Keira Trotier was eliminated in the repechage and Shianne Gronen did not make it past the first round.

In the U70 kg division, Carla Maria Chirila won her first combat by ippon against Poland’s Klaudia Kabata before losing to France’s Maria Olarte. Her second defeat came at the hands of Belgium’s Sophie Berger in the repechage. Adriana Potruondo-Isasi finished the day with a record of two losses.

Maxime Côté was eliminated in his first bout of the repechage in the U81 kg group. In the preliminaries, he took control of Poland’s Kamil Kotlik by ippon before bowing out to Britain’s James Hayes, who also won by ippon. In the repechage, he was ousted by Portugal’s Miguel Alves, who scored a waza-ari for the win.

Danil Neyolov won his first match against Germany’s Fabien Mattiss before being shown the door by Poland’s Sebastian Marcinikiewicz.

Alexandre Arencibia, Gabriel Traversy, and Alex Marineau also competed but were eliminated in their first bouts.

In the U100 kg group, Casey Joe Andres dominated his first opponent to win by ippon before being defeated by waza-ari by Jur Spijkers of the Netherlands. Kevin Gauthier had to withdraw due to a knee injury.

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