Montréal, October 8, 2025 – The Canadians faced a daunting challenge in round one of the team event at the Junior World Judo Championships in Lima, Peru, on Wednesday. The members of coach Antoine Bouchard’s team were eliminated early in the competition by Neutral Athletes competing under the banner of the International Judo Federation.

Photo IJF (c) Sabau Gabriela

On the men’s side, Fahd Fitane (-73 kg) and John Jr Messé A Bessong (+90 kg) put up solid fights against their opponents. Fitane was the first to score in his match against Iaroslav Bunakov, but was caught off guard twice later in the bout and ultimately defeated.

Messé A Bessong was up against Bislan Katamardov, who won the over-100 kg tournament yesterday. Their match was a tight one, but the new junior world champion managed to score a second waza-ari with just seconds to go in regulation time, thus clinching the win.

“Unfortunately, today just wasn’t our day. Fahd did well, scoring early in the bout. He was able to control his opponent for a good part of the match, but Bunakov kept the pressure on and was able to come back from behind, and Fahd couldn’t hold on until the end.”

“John put up a very respectable fight against the new junior world champion. He had some good sequences, but it wasn’t enough to secure the win. After his opponent scored the first time, John tried to come back from behind, but his opponent took advantage of that to score again,” he added.

On the women’s side, Laurence Gagnon lost to Elvida Gureva in the under-57 kg category. Alisa Kofman met a similar fate in her over-70 kg match against Anna Petrunina.

“Even though they didn’t win this week, some of the athletes who will still be in the junior age group next year gained some valuable experience here in Lima. Like Fahd Fitane and Laurence Gagnon, for example. Despite their losses, they fought very well, and that bodes well for the future,” concluded the coach.

Antoine Bouchard will remain in Peru for the next few days to prepare several senior Canadian judokas for a Grand Prix tournament in Lima this weekend. He will then return to Canada to get the junior athletes ready for the new season, which gets underway in the next few weeks.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada

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Patrick Esparbès
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