Montreal, June 16, 2019 (Sportcom) – Torontonian Sava Antic (-73 kg) and Danil Neyolov (-90 kg) both fought for a bronze medal, but were defeated on Sunday at the Pan American Open in Quito, in Ecuador. Both Canadians ranked in fifth place.

Sava Antic won his first bout against Haitian Philippe Abel Metellus. For his second fight, the semi-final, the Ontarian was defeated by ippon by Peruvian Alonso Wong. In the bronze-medal bout, Ecuadorian Carlos Samaniego kept the 2017 Cadet Pan American Champion away from the podium after winning by waza-ari. Antic ranked in fifth place.

“I believe the bronze medal was achievable. I felt good during the day, but I made a mistake in the bronze final and got scored on,” explained Antic. “I had opportunities to come back and score near the end, but unfortunately, I didn’t get the score.”

Fighting in -90 kg, Danil Neyolov lost his first match against Peruvian Yuta Galarreta Villa. The Torontonian bounced back in repechage by eliminating Ecuadorian Diego Suquilanda. Finally, for the bronze-medal bout, Neyolov was up against Brazilian Milton Miranda, who won by ippon after a little over 2 minutes.

Solomon Choran (-81 kg, Toronto) was eliminated after his first and only fight, against American Alex Jacobson.

Rachel Krapman (-63 kg) was the only Canadian woman in action at the Pan American Open over the weekend in the Ecuadorian capital. On Saturday, the Thornhill native (Ontario) lost her matches against Brazilian Mariana Silva and Ecuadorian Edith Ortiz.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
Patrick Esparbès
Chief Operating Officer
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