Montréal, February 7, 2015 (Sportcom) – It was a tough day for the Canadian judokas at the Sofia European Cup, Saturday, presented in Bulgaria. Ecatarina Guica came away with the best Canadian result, a 7^th place finish.

“The competition was tougher than we had expected,” coach Sasha Mehmedovic commented. “Our athletes weren’t able to find their rhythm today. Most of them will now return to Montréal and begin their preparation for the next competition.”

Guica, who hails from Brossard, benefitted from a bye in the preliminary round. Her tourney began, therefore, against the Bulgarian Galya Ivanova, whom she defeated with an ippon. Her next duel pitted her against the Japanese Mako Uchio. The Quebecoise judoka would eventually lose this bout, falling by way of an ippon.

Guica had a chance to get back on track in the repechage, but again came up short, this time versus the Dutchwoman Miranda Wolfslag.

Stefanie Tremblay (-63 kg) won her first bout by ippon against the Russian Ekaterina Valkova. She would drop her next fight, however, falling to the Japanese Megumi Tsugane.

Erin Morgan (-48 kg) lost her one and only contest of the day, succumbing to defeat at the hands of the Kazakh Meruyert Imangaliyeva, who scored an ippon.

On the men’s side, David Ancor (-73 kg) began well with a win against the Portuguese Bernardo Tavares by an ippon. He was eliminated in his subsequent match, however, falling to the Turk Hasan Vanlioglu.

Also in the -73 kg class, Alexis Morin-Martel lost his opening bout to the Ukrainian Artem Khomula, who won with an ippon.

Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada