Montreal, September 25, 2016 – Three athletes were representing Canada at the judo Grand Prix of Zagreb, Croatia, between Friday and Sunday this week. But the competition didn’t last very long for Zachary Burt, Étienne Briand and Jessica Klimkait.

Coach Michel Almeida noted that the three judokas are beginners in their respective divisions. While 19-year-old Klimkait is still a junior, both Briand and Burt have recently moved up weight classes.

“This was a higher-level competition, which already demanded that the athletes be highly consistent in their tactics. All three were strong enough to win their fights, were it not for the use of unadjusted tactics. The important part after this is to try to adjust those tactical, and somewhat technical, mistakes.”

In the Under 90 kg, Burt, ranked 171^st in the world, was shown the door after his very first match of the day. The Oshawa native lost to Slovakian Peter Zilka, 226^th, by waza-ari.

“It was my first Grand Prix event and, while my opponent had beaten me in the past, I was confident I could even the score today. Unfortunately he caught me midway through the match for a small point and I wasn’t able to tie it up. If I had to do it differently, I would have changed up my gripping sequences earlier on in the fight.”

On Saturday, Sept-Îles’s Briand, 179^th, was also eliminated after one bout, in the Under 81 kg. It was a penalty that tipped the scale in favour of Croatian Dominik Druzeta.

Klimkait, ranked 73^rd in the Under 57 kg, didn’t last longer than 46 seconds into the tournament. The Whitby athlete was served an ippon at the hands of Israeli Adi Grossman, 78^th.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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