Montreal, September 14, 2022 – Veterans Shane Rooney and Bailey Hu stood out on the first day of competition at the World Kata Championships in Krakow, Poland. The two Canadians won their first medals of their careers at worlds by winning bronze in the senior katame-no-kata.

Rooney was particularly pleased with his success, as he always makes it a point to be at the top of his game when representing Canada on the international stage.

“Bailey and I trained very hard for this event, and we were confident. We really wanted to come home with the gold, but we’re really happy to be medalists at the World Championships. This is our first medal at worlds, but certainly not our last,” said the Ontarian.

Rooney and Hu finished first in their group with 401 points. The partners who have participated in the duo competitions since 2017 wanted to thank those who supported them and believed in them on their way to this long-awaited medal.

“A special thank you to Judo Ontario and Judo Canada for supporting us and contributing to our success and the development of our sport in this country.”

Dutch duo Tycho Van Der Werff and David Lefevere captured the gold medal ahead of Germany’s Miriam Sikora and Christian Steinert, who finished the day with a silver.

In the same event, Kelly Palmer and Wesley Enns finished sixth in their group and did not advance to the final.

Manuele and Matteo Fantozzi were the other Canadian team to reach a final at the World Kata Championships in Krakow. The Ontarians competed in the Nage-no-kata final in the under-23 category.

To get there, the Fantozzis finished third in their group in qualifying with a score of 368 points. In the final round, they placed sixth thanks to their collection of 366.5 points. France’s Dylan Meddour and Victoria Kraska climbed to the top of the podium.

The mother-daughter duo of Danielle Ferland and Aiko Lachaine finished seventh in their group in Ju-no-kata. The final was won by Romania’s Alina Zaharia and Alina Cheru. Last May, Ferland and Lachaine won the gold medal at the Canadian Open Championships in Montreal.

Finally, in Goshin-jutsu, Allyn Takahashi and Tony Walby placed 11th in qualifying and were unable to make it to the final. Japan’s Koo Ikeda and Fumitaka Sakamaki scored an impressive 568.5 points in the final to win gold.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada

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