Montréal, September 22, 2012 – While Joliane Melançon was climbing the podium for a silver medal at the Judo World Cup in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Saturday, Charles Breton-Leduc and Arthur Margelidon were well on their way to claiming a pair of third places finishes, at the Europe Cup in Tampere, Finland.

In Uzbekistan, Melançon received a bye into the second round in the under 57 kg category. The Quebecoise then went on to beat the Uzbek Juldiz Mustafaeva and the Israeli Noa Snir by ippon.

Melançon, classed 15th in the world, was upset in the final by 25th ranked Armenian Zhanna Stankevich, who won by way of ippon.

Breton-Leduc and Margelidon, in action in Finland, won bronze medals in the under 60 and 73 kg divisions, respectively.

Breton-Leduc won his first three bouts, eliminating in succession the Slovak Marek Pentka, the Italian Boris Gubiani and the Dutchman Kay Van Rijn.

“It was quite the battle with Van Rijn, Breton-Leduc admitted. He took the lead with a yuko, so I was forced to play catch-up.  I was able to score a waza-ari, but it wasn’t until the very end of the fight that I was able to get an ippon after I pinned him to the ground.”

The Quebecer was beaten in the semifinals by the Estonian Elnur Aliev, but easily won his duel with the Dutchman Bas Koffijberg to claim one of the two bronze medals.

 “I’m disappointed with my fight versus Aliev because I made just one error, the Quebecer went on to explain. I was leading with a yuko and was being very defensive, I was trying hard to avoid making a mistake, but it happened with 25 seconds left. I’m disappointed because I was just 25 seconds away from assuring myself of a silver medal, with a chance for gold. In the end, my bronze medal bout lasted but 20 seconds.  All in all, I’m still happy with the medal.”

As for Margelidon, he lost his opening match to the Dutchman Sam Van T Westende, but then went on to win his next three bouts in the repechage, as well as his final bout for the bronze medal.

Falling in the Quebecer’s wake were, in order, the Dane Alexander Nakke, the Finns Petja Lindstrom and Eetu Laamanen, and lastly, the Dutchman David Miccoli.

Aliev and Van T Westende, the only judokas to gain the upper hand on Breton-Leduc and Margelidon on Saturday, went on to win gold (Aliev) and silver (Van T Westende).

Patrick Gagné places 5th

In the under 66 kg division, Patrick Gagné finished 5th after winning 4 of his 6 fights on the day.

The Quebecois started well with victories over the Czech Jaroslav Stalmacher and Latvian Dmitrijs Haratjans, but subsequently fell to the Pole Grzegorz Lewinski.

He then went on to post wins against Dutchmen Joris Soek and Jeffrey Krab, before coming up short versus the Dutchman Cunnar Kops.

Alexander DiBartolo (60 kg) and Miguel Ngombi (73 kg), both from Québec, were able to each win one of their three bouts, good for ninth place finishes.

As for the Quebecers Antoine Bouchard (66 kg), Étienne Briand (73 kg) and Patrick Cantin (66 kg), none were able to record a victory.

On the women’s side, Audrey Francis-Méthot and Nicole Jenicek both obtained 7th place classifications.

In the under 52 kg division, Francis-Méthot of Québec beat the Lithuanian Aurelija Gotto, but lost in subsequent bouts to first the Russian Darya Predeina and then the Dutchwoman Miranda Wolfslag.

The Ontarian Jenicek, fighting in the under 57 kg category, followed a first round defeat to Dutchwoman Sanne Verhagen with a win over the Luxembourger Manon Durbach, before being eliminated by the Swiss Emilie Amaron.

The Quebecoise Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard, fighting in the under 63 kg class, also won one of her three bouts, good enough for a ninth place overall.

Louis Krieber-Gagnon (81 kg), Scott McGrandle (81 kg), Ana Laura Portuondo-Isasi (78 kg), Alix Renaud-Roy (70 kg), Volodymyr Semyrozum (90 kg) and Sophie Vaillancourt (+78 kg) will all be in action Sunday, in Tampere.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada