Montreal, August 21, 2016 – Team Canada’s Junior squad grabbed two silver and one bronze medal today, on the final day of Junior European Cup in Ploiesti, Romania. Judokas Emily Burt, (Under 63 kg) and Mina Coulombe, (Under 78 kg) each earned places on the second step of the podium, while Louis Krieber-Gagnon (Under 90 kg) earned bronze in his weight category.

“I’m very happy with our athletes today! We had a lot of wins, and their increase in experience was evident,” commented Jean-Pierre Cantin, National Team Junior and Cadet Head Coach.

Ontario’s Emily Burt started off with three wins via Ippon in regulation time – two in the preliminary round and one in the semi-final; with these wins in hand, she was sure to receive a medal. Serbia’s Anja Obradovic met Burt in the final, where the Serbian judoka scored an Ippon after 1 minute 24 seconds – thereby winning the gold, but ensuring that Burt would get the silver.

The bronze medal winners in the Under 63 kg category were Finland’s Emilia Kanerva and Israel’s Paz Liebel.

In the Under 78 kg class, two Canadians were in the tableau. Baie-Comeau’s Mina Coulombe went straight to the semi-final thanks to two passes in the round robins, which she won against Bulgaria’s Ilina Stoyanova (the latter accumulating two penalties whereas Coulombe earned none).

In the final, Israel’s Raz Hershko got the better of the Quebecois athlete; Hershko pocketed gold while Coulombe took home the silver.

Teammate Ariane Lévesque, from Saint-Quentin, took fifth place after a day punctuated with one win and two defeats, not bad for a 14 year-old!

A Successful Last Junior Tournament for Louis Krieber-Gagnon

At work in the Under 90 kg category since last January only, Montreal’s Louis Krieber-Gagnon brought his junior career to a close in stylish fashion with a bronze medal.

After a win and a defeat in the preliminary round, the 20 year-old judoka was able to access the repêchage. The three consecutives victories that followed led the Quebecois athlete to the third step of the podium. His last bout for the bronze medal was won in a decisive fashion – with an Ippon after 2 minutes and 24 seconds of combat.

“For Louis, Mina, and Bradley (who was on the tatami yesterday), this was their last junior tournament – they now will be moving on to senior competitions this autumn. For the others this was another step towards the World Junior Championships in 2017,” said Jean-Pierre Cantin.

Three other Canadian judokas were on the tatami today. In the Under 70 kg class, Adriana Portuondo-Isasi finished in fifth place after one win and two losses. Benjamin Kendrick took ninth place after meeting the eventual gold medal combatant (Croatia’s Dominik Druzeta) in his first match. Kendrick then suffered another defeat in the repêchage. Lastly, Janika Michel was unable to achieve a final ranking after having lost her first bout.

“Win or lose, what’s really important is that all our athletes here today continue to develop and learn from their experiences this weekend,” reasoned Coach Cantin.

Most of Team Canada’s athletes present today will now take part in a three-day training camp, then head to Germany August 27 and 28^th for a Senior European World Cup.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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