Montréal, August 5, 2012 – Canadian judokas continue to post good results on the international scene.  Sunday, Ontarian Monika Burgess took home the bronze medal in the under 63 kg category, at the European Junior Cup in Prague, Czech Republic.

“It’s a great performance for Monika. It’s just her first year on the junior circuit and she’s already won a medal in a Junior European Cup competition. She has a bright future ahead of her,” Judo Canada’s head coach and director of high performance, Nicolas Gill, pointed out.

Burgess had a great run to start the tournament, beating one after the other the Czech Tereza Valinova, the Brazilian Ary Farias and the Turk Ozge Akarsu, before suffering her first defeat in the semis, falling to the Dutchwoman Dominique Velema.

In the bronze medal bout, the Canadian came out on top by defeating the Hungarian Krisztina Polyak.

The gold medal would eventually be claimed by the Turkish judoka Dilara Incedayi, who beat Dominique Velema in the final.  The second bronze went to the German Vivian Herrmann.

Among the other Canadians in action, Zachary Burt (-81 kg) managed to win one of the three bouts he took part in.  The Ontarian beat the German Toni Grohn before falling to the Slovak Peter Zilka.

In his first repechage fight, he was eliminated by the Brazilian Caio Moura.

Canadians Marc Deschesnes (-90kg), Arthur Margelidon (-73 kg), Kattie Dennis (-57 kg) and Antoine Bouchard (-66kg) all bowed out in their first contest.

All six judokas will be back in action next weekend for the European Junior Cup taking place in Berlin, Germany.