Montréal, November 18, 2011 – Canadian judokas Tony Walby and Timothy Rees both captured bronze medals, Friday, at the Parapan American Games, taking place in Guadalajara, Mexico.

 Participating in the over 100 kg bronze medal final, Walby was able to score a yuko early on the bout, before scoring an ippon to finish off the American Demeteris Morrow.  “I’d been hoping to fight for gold, but at least I brought home a medal for Canada, the Ottawa native iterated. It’s too bad, because it was just one little error that I made during the prelims that stopped me from fighting in the final.”

 This competition is important, to some degree, for qualification into the London Paralympic Games, making it a point of concern for Walby. “I could have gone out and gotten more points to strengthen my overall ranking in the worldwide standings, he admitted.  As it stands, I’ll be sitting in about 9^th or 10^th spot when the new updated rankings come out.”

 Only the top ten judokas in each category get an invitation to the Olympic Games.  Besides his victory over Morrow, the Ontarian also defeated the Colombian William Montero.  In the preliminary round, he lost to both the Brazilian Wilians Silva and the Cuban Yangaliny Jiminez.

 The Ontarian Timothy Rees (-100 kg) started his day off slowly, losing his first two bouts to Antonio Tenorio (Brazil) and Myles Porter (United States). He began turning things around in his third fight, beating the Cuban Juan Cortada, and would eventually secure the bronze medal when the Argentinian Claudio Fernandez forfeited the match due to a shoulder injury.

 “It’s a little bit disappointing to win this way, but I’m still happy to win a medal for Canada, Rees declared.  My bout against the Brazilian was tough and extremely close, but in the end I came up short.  In the end, I think I’ve done enough to punch my ticket for the London Paralympic Games.”

 No Canadians will be in competition in Guadalajara on Saturday.  Justin Karn will be in action on Sunday, competing in the under 60 kg class.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada