Montréal, July 3, 2022 – At the European Judo Open in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Alexandre Arencibia (Montréal, QC) advanced to the final in the under-90 kg category, where he put up a good fight against Murad Fatiyev of Azerbaijan. Arencibia lost the bout, but his coach Janusz Pawlowski is nevertheless thrilled with his silver medal.

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“Alexandre performed very well all day. He took the time to really assess his opponents. Fatiyev fought strategically against Alexandre, and it paid off for him. Fatiyev is one of the best in the world, and Alexandre fought very well against him,” said the coach.

To reach the final round, Arencibia defeated Vlad Visan of Romania, Iurie Mocanu of Moldova and Harrison Cassar of Australia back-to-back, finishing first in his pool. In the semi-final, he bested Aram Grigorian of the United Arab Emirates. Pawlowski was especially impressed with Arencibia’s performance against Moldova’s Mocanu in his second bout of the day.

“Mocanu was a big surprise! He was strong and very solid. In order to win, Alexandre had to adapt his strategy. It was a great fight and he demonstrated an excellent capacity to be flexible,” said Pawlowski.

Also in the under-90 kg category, Keagan Young (Markham, ON) started his day well with wins over Rares Arsenie of Romania and Milan Randl of Slovakia.

However, in his semi-final match against Fatiyev, he suffered a serious wrist injury, which put an end to his day.

“Keagan was very good in his first fights of the day. He managed to score points when it really counted. In the semi-final, his opponent was very strong. After being thrown, Keagan got back up and yelled that his wrist was broken. He continued to fight with one hand, but he unfortunately lost. He was seen by a doctor immediately afterwards,” explained Pawlowski.

Following his bout against Fatiyev, Young was rushed to the hospital and was forced to forfeit his bronze medal fight against Turkey’s Omer Aydin.

“We’ll have more information in the next few hours, but for now, it looks like a dislocation. He’ll go back to Montréal as soon as possible to rest his arm.”

Coralie Godbout of Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury, QC, had only one bout on her schedule in the under-78 kg category. She defeated Lorena Podelenczki of Romania to clinch the gold medal.

“Coralie was perfect in that fight. There was supposed to be a third participant in the weight category, but in the end, there were only two, which was a bit disappointing. But we have the gold medal, and that’s what matters,” stated Pawlowski.

In the under-100 kg group, Ian Ryder of Richmond, BC, was ousted in his first match of the day by Luca Kunszabo of Romania, who went on to win silver.

Adriana Portuondo-Isasi of La Prairie, QC, who was making her return to competition in the under-78 kg group, met a similar fate, losing her only two bouts of the day.

Silver for Michelle Jorgensen in São Paulo

Michelle Jorgensen (Kelowna, BC) climbed to the second step of the podium at the Parajudo Grand Prix in São Paulo, Brazil, in the under-70 kg category. The competition was held in round robin format.

The Canadian won her first match of the day against Michelle Aparecida Ferreira of Brazil by ippon before being defeated by Cuba’s Dalida Rodriguez Clark, who later won the gold medal.

“It was a small but very experienced group. Both of Michelle’s opponents were former Paralympic medallists. It was her first time fighting elite athletes, and she proved that she belonged at that level. I have no doubt that she’ll soar to the top of her division,” said coach Andrzej Sadej.

Jorgensen’s silver medal joins the gold medal won by Priscilla Gagné yesterday in São Paulo.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada

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