Montreal, September 24, 2017 – The bronze medal remained just out of Mina Coulombe’s reach on Sunday at the European Open in Belgrade, Serbia. Coulombe, of Montreal, ended the competition in fifth place in the Under 78 kg category.

France’s Vanessa Dureau claimed victory in the fight for one of the third-place overall spots with a throw that earned her an ippon.

“I didn’t have a particular strategy. I had seen Dureau fight earlier in the day and I knew what to expect. My goal was simply to perform judo my own way,” noted Coulombe.

Prior to her bronze medal final, the Québécoise had recorded a loss by ippon to France’s Julie Pierret, the eventual silver medal winner, and a win by waza-ari over Hungary’s Evelin Salanki.

“I can’t really say that I’m satisfied with my day, unfortunately. I was feeling a lot of pressure today given that I’m working on being carded by Judo Canada and Sport Canada. I had trouble staying focused while managing that,” she added.

Italy’s Linda Politi was awarded the gold medal while the second bronze medal was granted to Stessie Bastareaud of France.

In other action, Alix Renaud-Roy competed in the Under 70 kg group. The judoka from Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies beat Serbia’s Ivana Jandric by waza-ari in an early round but later faced two defeats by ippon: one to Switzerland’s Alina Lengweiler, who went on to win silver, the other to France’s Clémentine Louchez. Renaud-Roy finished seventh in her category.

“I made mistakes during my last two bouts. First I had a waza-ari against me, and then she got me on the ground for an ippon. The only positive thing I can say is that my knee, which underwent surgery in December for a torn ACL, held up,” she concluded.

Montenegro’s Jovana Pekovic claimed the gold medal. The two bronze medals went to Israel’s Bar Farin and Ireland’s Megan Fletcher.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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