Montréal, November 14, 2014 (Sportcom) – The Canadian contingent put in an impressive performance, Friday, at the Oceanic Open presented in Wollongong, Australia. Every athlete representing Canada came away with a podium finish.
In the under 73 kg category, the Canadians made a complete sweep of all the medals up for grabs. The Quebecois Arthur Margelidon dominated in all of his matches en route to a gold medal victory. In the grand finale, he came away victorious versus his teammate and fellow Quebecer, Alexis Morin-Martel. He began his day with wins in the prelims against the Nauruan Sled Dowabobo and the Singaporean Yilong Low, before taking down the Australian Jake Bensted in the semifinals.
As for the silver medalist Morin-Martel, he won three consecutive matches against Hong Kongers Leung Chun Lok and Cheung Chi Yip, as well as the Australian Anthony Kouros.
“Obviously I would have wanted to perform better in the finale. It was a close fight, but he beat me in the end,” the Quebecer Morin-Martel explained.
Also from Québec, David Ancor and Étienne Briand came away with the two available bronze medals in the same division.
In the preliminary round, Ancor beat the Korean Kim Dongbin before falling to the Australian Jake Bensted. He then put in a dominating performance versus the Singaporean Yilong Low in the repechage, and followed that up with a win in the bronze medal bout against the Hong Konger Cheung Shi Yip.
Briand also came away with a record of three wins and one loss. He got his day started with a win over the Korean Kim Moonsung, but then succumbed to defeat to Cheung Shi Yip. He then went on to win his last two bouts against the Australians Anthony Kouros and Jake Bensted.
In the under 60 kg class, the Quebecer Nicolas Dibartolo came away with a silver medal after wins against the Hong Konger Lee Yuk Ting, the Australian Tom Pappas and the Korean Noh Youncheol, before losing in the grand finale to the American Aaron Kunihiro.
The Ontarian Youssef Youssef, also competing in the under 60 kg, took home a 3rd place classification. In the prelims, he got the better of the Nepalese Mohan Bam and the Hong Konger Yu Kin Ting. He came up short in the semis, losing to the American Aaron Kunihiro, but bounced back in the bronze medal match, beating the Hong Konger Yu Kin Ting.
“I had a pretty good day. I made an error in the semifinals that cost me the fight, but I managed to regain my focus for my bronze medal tilt where I won with an ippon,” Youssef commented.
The Quebecoise Audrée Francis Méthot climbed onto the third step of the podium in the under 52 kg division. She finished her day with a record of 1-1 after a victory over the Australian Tinka Easton and a loss to the Brit Kelly Edwards.
Elsewhere, the Ontarian Jessica Klimkait (-57 kg) also registered a 3rd place finish. In the prelims, she took down the Australian Kiarn Kelly before falling at the hands of the Brit Nekoda Smythe Davis. In the repechage, she made quick work of the Hong Konger Leung Po Sum and the New Zealander Darcina Manuel.
In the under 63 kg category, Béatrice Valois-Fortier came away with a bronze medal. She recorded wins versus the Australians Stevie Kelly and Maeve Couhlan and the Brit Jodie Mullen. Her only loss came against the Slovak Nina Milosevic.
Antoine Bouchard (-66 kg) also climbed onto the third step of the podium. He recorded three wins on the day, beating the Hong Konger Chui Chun Sing and the Australians Nathan Katz and Michal Valent. His one loss came against the Korean Gwang-Hyeon Choi.