Montreal, October 4, 2017 – The Canadian team will return from the Veterans’ World Judo Championships in Olbia, Italy, with two gold medals and one silver. Ronald Angus (U100 kg, ages 60-64) and Vitaliy Polyanskyy (U100 kg, ages 35-39) each claimed gold medals in their respective categories while Rashad Justin Chin (U60 kg, ages 35-39) nabbed the silver medal in his group.
Angus, of Burlington, Ontario, showed no mercy to his three opponents, beating Alain Blondron of France, Peter Danckert of Great Britain, and Nurlan Jarashuyev of Kazakhstan by ippon.
“I finished in second place last year and given than I’d decided that this competition would be my last, I’m very happy and satisfied with my result,” he noted.
“I’m not completely surprised, because my training focused on making several attacks at the beginning of the bout in order to put pressure on my opponents during the second half, where I could take advantage of their mistakes.”
The gold medallist admitted that his toughest opponent was Blondron, of France. “He’s very strong physically and he’s very proficient at counter-attacks.”
Polanskyy, of Toronto, Ontario, also held a perfect record, beating all three of his opponents, the final of which was Ahmed Kebaili of Algeria.
Chin, of Edmonton, Alberta, ousted his first two opponents by ippon before Brazil’s Cristian Cezario relegated him to second place by scoring an ippon himself.
Two other Canadians came within reach of medals at the Italian tournament. Amanda McAlpine of Guelph, Ontario, was defeated by Sweden’s Annika Krus in the bronze medal final in the U78 kg, 35-39 category.
Docu Cezar Popescu of Montreal, Quebec, faced off against four opponents in the +100 kg, 50-54 group. He lost to Paul Holder of the U.S.A. in one of two bronze medal finals.
McAlpine and Popescu finished fifth in their respective categories.
Other Canadian Results
9th Chris Smiley U81 kg 40-44 years
9th Mathieu Lemay U81 kg 30-34 years
Not ranked Luc Dubé U100 kg 35-39 years
Not ranked Paul Thidodeau U90 kg 45-49 years
Not ranked Daniel Bird U90 kg 55-59 years
Not ranked Jason Scott U100 kg 40-44 years
Not ranked Arthur Targosinski U73 kg 50-54 years