Montréal, December 7^th, 2012 – Quebecers Kyle Reyes and Alix Renaud-Roy were defeated in extremely close fights at the Jeju World Cup in South Korea, Friday, in what was the last day of competition of an excellent Asian tour for the Canadian contingent.

Competing in the under 100 kg class, Reyes was unfortunately eliminated in his first bout against the Japanese Daiki Tanii.

“Kyle lost by a score of two shidos to one. The shido he conceded early on came back to haunt him. Overall, I thought he still managed the best attacks of the bout,” Nicolas Gill pointed out.

As for Renaud-Roy, fighting in the under 70 kg, he would suffer a similar fate, losing in overtime to South Korean Hye Jin Jeong, who won with an ippon.

“Alix came very close to throwing Jeong to ground early on in the bout. The South Korean manage to survive and stretch the fight into extra time, where he surprised Alix,” Gill explained.

The National Team coach gave high praise to his proteges for these last few weeks in Asia, where they also were given the opportunity to participate in a training camp at the renowned Tokai University in Japan.

“The Asian tour gave these young judokas an opportunity to go toe to toe with many potential athletes at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, and for the veterans to shake the rust off a bit.”

“Notable performances for me were that of the 19-year-old Kyle Reyes’s 5^th place finish at the Tokyo Grand Slam, where he defeated a 15^th ranked opponent, and that of 18-year-old Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard (63 kg), with her bronze medal here in Korea.”

The next major competitions at the international level will take place at the beginning of February, with the continental Opens in Sofia, Bulgaria, and Tbilisi, Georgia.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada