Montréal, August 24, 2011 – Joliane Melançon registered the best Canadian performance of the day, Wednesday, at the Judo World Championships taking place in Paris, France.  The Quebecoise reached the 1/8 finals in the under 57 kg class, finishing in 9^th place.

Melançon, 23^rd in the world in her division, obtained a bye into the second round where she faced off against the Bulgarian, Ivelina Ilieva.  The Montreal native completely dominated her adversary, ending the bout within three minutes, thanks to an ippon.

“She’s a young judoka.  She finished 3^rd in the last Junior World Championships. I didn’t really know what to expect, and in the end it was nice challenge, Melançon explained.  I stuck with my strategy throughout.  I remained patient and used my hands well.  I was able to eventually throw my opponent to the ground and immobilize her.

In the next round, Melançon again made quick work of her opponent, this time defeating the Russian, Ekaterina Melnikova with an ippon in under 2 minutes.

“I know her well because I’ve already fought against her in competition and training.  She managed to throw me to the ground, but I was able to counter this maneuver by immobilizing her for the victory,” the judoka added.

Melançon then fell to Corina Caprioriu in the 1/8 finals, despite beginning the bout strongly.  The explosive Bulgarian judoka went into the competition ranked 5th in the world, and would eventually come away with the bronze medal.

 “I’m happy and disappointed at the same time.  Happy, because I was able to dominate the grapples. I scored a yuko early on and was leading the fight. I felt good.  I saw the attacks coming and was able to escape them.  It was only when I opened up and took a chance that she was able to take advantage.  It’s disappointing because I was so close to victory,” she added.

On the men’s side, Nicholas Tritton, 11^th in the overall standings, was in action in the under 73 kg class.  After receiving a bye into the second round, he took on the 2^nd ranked judoka in the world, the Japanese, Riki Nakaya.  Tritton fell by way of ippon, while Nakaya went on to claim the gold medal.

Thursday, Canadians Guillaume Perrault and Antoine Valois-Fortier will be action in the under 81 kg division.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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