Montréal, December 7, 2014 – The Canadian judoka Kyle Reyes came away with a 7^th place classification in the under 100 kg class, Sunday, on the last day of competition at the Tokyo Grand Slam in Japan. Also in action, Ana Laura Portuondo Isasi was eliminated in her opening bout in the under 78 kg category.

“Kyle put together some strong fights,” national coach Jeremy Le Bris affirmed.

The Brampton, Ontario-native got things started with a win in the first round over the Japanese (American-born) athlete, Aaron Wolf.

Reyes, ranked 23rd in the world, then took on the No. 5 judoka in the standings, the Azerbaijani Elmar Gasimov. “Kyle had already lost to him in the final of a Grand Slam event in Ulan Bator, Mongolia,” Le Bris recalled. Today, both judokas left everything they had on the mat, battling for an incredible 10 minutes and 24 seconds.”

Both penalized twice in regulation time, the two opponents continued their fight into overtime. Reyes would eventually come away victorious, winning the match with a yuko.

Coming off the dramatic win against Gasimov, Reyes was more than ready to take on the South Korean Guham Cho (28th) in the quarterfinals. His day, however, would take an unfortunate turn. “Kyle injured his hamstring in the first minute of the fight and was forced to abandon,” Le Bris explained.

Reyes would also have to declare forfeit for his next match in the repechage against the 18th ranked Ukrainian Artem Bloshenko.

“He still hasn’t seen a doctor, but it looks like he’ll be off the tatamis for at least six weeks,” the coach added.

Portuondo Isasi eliminated in her first match

On the women’s side, Ana Laura Portuondo Isasi was shown the door in the opening round of the under 78 kg class, and did not receive a classification.

The 35thranked Montrealer was defeated by the eventual silver medalist, the Japanese Ruika Sato (23rd). She won the match in decisive fashion, scoring a waza-ari and a yuko in the victory.

“The Japanese blocked all of her attacks. Ana was unable to get close to her,” Le Bris explained.

The Canadian judokas will stay in Japan until December 17th where they will participate in a training camp. They’ll be back in action in January of 2015, for the Canadian Championships.