Montreal, July 26, 2017 – The week’s medal haul for Team Canada-Quebec grew once again Wednesday, as they compete at the Jeux de la Francophonie (Francophone Games) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The happy judokas bringing home heavier luggage are: Emily Burt with a gold, Alix Renaud-Roy with a silver, and Patrick Cantin with a bronze.

Despite fatigue taking a physical toll after a series of competitions in a few short weeks, Emily Burt still managed to climb atop the podium in the U63 kg class.

“It was a really great day! I’m super tired because I just got back from two competitions in Europe, but I was motivated to do well today. I really wanted to win; I’ve never competed in front of such a big crowd, so it was exciting!” exclaimed Burt, who now calls Montreal home.

In the final, the Oshawa native took the win from Cloe Yvin. “I never really felt like I was in trouble in that round. I knew that if I fought smart that I could win,” commented the Canadian.

Getting to the final was relatively smooth sailing. In the quarter-finals, Burt defeated Gabon’s Philomene Dialli with an ippon; she then moved on to another ippon-based win against Tunisia’s Mariem Bjaoui in the semi-final.

“My semi-final was my most difficult match, because Bjaoui has a judo style that I’m not used to. I found myself in a little bit of trouble at the beginning, but I was able to figure out what she was doing and get back into the game again quickly.”

Team Canada Coach Jean-Pierre Cantin is immensely proud of Burt, who’s currently preparing for the World Junior Championships. “It’s her third medal in as many competitions. What’s even more impressive is that no one was able to score points against her in her bouts, in all three competitions. She’s really matured a lot – and the proof is, she had her hands in the right places from the start to the end of match, and she’s very consistent. All day, nobody could catch her.”

Alix Renaud-Roy (U70 kg) also made winning look easy in her ascent to the podium, but was tripped up before she could get her hands on the gold. After a hotly contested battle on the tatami, the Canadian judoka from Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies lost to France’s Melissa Heleine.

“Alix has just come back after an injury, so this silver medal is excellent news for her,” explained Cantin. “She had a great bout against the French judoka, and only lost at the very end. Honestly, she did a great job overall.”

Reaching the final was a matter of Renaud-Roy getting the better of Camoroon’s Ntuiayuk-Ota Arrey Sophina in the quarter finals with a waza-ari, and then moving on to defeat Côte d’Ivoire’s Fatim Fofana with an ippon in the semi-final round.

Patrick Cantin (U73 kg) snapped up one of two bronze medals at play his category. The native of Deux-Montagnes, Quebec, found himself in the repechage after a quarter final defeat at the hands of Romania’s Alexandru Raicu. Cantin shook off the loss and went to win two bouts, then faced off against and beat French judoka Mathieu Little Lebreton for a bronze medal.

Longueuil’s Camelia Pitsilis (U57 kg) was eliminated in the second repechage round by a waza-ari handed out by Morocco’s Soumiya Iraoui.

So Close, Yet Still So Far

Alicia Rae Briggs (U57 kg) stepped onto the tatami wearing Team Canada colours as well today. In the bronze medal final she was defeated by Sarah Sylva (Mauritius), and as a result the Albertan slid to fifth place.

Bradley Langlois (U73 kg) also had maple leaf power behind him today, but it sadly wasn’t enough to earn him a bronze and he had too had settle for fifth place. Romania’s Alexandru Raicu and his ippon put a halt to Ontarian Langlois’ podium dreams for today.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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