Montréal, November 16, 2013 – Opportunity knocked and the Canadian judokas answered, as they took full advantage of a smaller field at the Oceania Open in Apia, the capital of Samoa, to claim four gold medals and a bronze on Friday and Saturday.

Arthur Margelidon, fighting in the under 73 kg category, Ecaterina Guica, at under 52 kg, Stéfanie Tremblay, in the under 57 kg class, and Alix Renaud-Roy, under 70 kg, all took home top honours on the day.

The Ontarian Zachary Burt also medaled, coming away with a third place finish in the under 81 kg division of a tourney that had a limited number of top competitors.

To claim gold, Margelidon had to win four bouts, Guica and Tremblay three, Renaud-Roy two, and Burt needed to pull out two out of three victories to claim bronze.

The Albertan Ian Campbell along with Ontarian Jonah Burt, both in action in the under 81 kg class, each lost their opening bout, as did the Saskatchewan-native Jordan Poliakiwski in the under 52 kg division.

Guica, 93^rd in the world, notably had an excellent run to the podium, knocking off the Australian Hannah Trotter, 31^st in the standings, the Brit Louise Renicks, 29^th, and the Irish Lisa Kearney, 43^rd.

Ranked 53^rd in the under 70 kg category, Renaud-Roy also defeated some decent opponents, such as the New Zealander Moira De Villiers, 21^st, and the Australian Sara Collins, 30^th.

“Arthur, Stéfanie, Ecaterina and Alix claimed their very first world cup gold medals, so it was a big day for them,” Canadian coach Sasha Mehmedovic. explained.

“Zachary came away with his first world cup medal at his first world cup event. He fought extremely well but lost to a more experienced opponent,” Mehmedovic went on to say.

“For the rest of the squad, it was their first world cup competition so they understandably lacked experience. Despite that, they fought really hard and gained some valuable experience,” the coach concluded.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada