After winning five gold medals yesterday in the cadet division, the Canadian team followed up with another strong performance on Sunday at the Junior Pan-American Cup in Lima, Peru. Anes Mati, Amir Temirbaev, Matthew Molchanov, and Franck David Moussima Ewane Elouti all ended the day at the top of the podium in their respective weight divisions.

Gabrieli Makhatadze was also a contender for gold, but he bowed out to his countrymate Temirbaev in the big final and will return home with a silver medal.

Before facing Makhatadze in the finals, Temirbaev dispatched of Americans Johan Badillo and Sebastian Teran. Meanwhile, Makhatadze bested Jack Uraco of Peru, Taiga Hatanaka of Argentina, and Derian Luna of Ecuador to advance to his second gold medal final of the weekend.

“Gabrieli competed in a higher weight class than his own today, and yet he still managed to advance all the way to the finals after a big semi-final bout. His fight against Amir was very close, and in the end, Amir’s experience is probably what made the difference,” said Canadian team coach Erika Miranda.

In the under-66 kg category, Anes Mati quickly ousted his first two opponents before defeating Mexico’s Efrain Carrillo Paredes in the gold medal bout, securing the victory as the four minutes of regulation time wound down.

At the very end of the afternoon, Matthew Molchanov (-100 kg) and Franck David Moussima Ewane Elouti (+100 kg) brought the day to a spectacular close for the Canadian team, respectively disposing of Chile’s Kenji Escrich and Argentina’s Edgar Molina to clinch their second titles in as many days.

“The level of competition on Sunday was much higher than it was on Saturday, and all of our athletes fought extremely hard all day long. They’re very talented, and I see tremendous potential in them, which is encouraging as we start to look ahead to the World Championships,” added Miranda.

Laurence Gagnon battles for bronze

Laurence Gagnon got off to a strong start on Sunday in the under-57 kg division at the Junior European Cup in Graz, Austria. The athlete from Saguenay won her first three bouts of the day, later advancing to one of the bronze medal finals.

After receiving a first-round bye, Gagnon defeated Israel’s Noa Hadar in her first fight of the day. She then dispatched of Kazakhstan’s Kira Khegay and Romania’s Vanessa Tolea in quick succession to secure her spot in the semi-finals.

However, she lost her semi-final match to Austria’s Marlene Schinwald, then bowed out to Italy’s Alice Martellaci in the battle for bronze. Gagnon thus ended the day in fifth place.

“[Laurence] pulled off some very convincing victories today. However, she may have been feeling a bit stressed in the semi-finals and the bronze medal match, as she was slightly less composed than she had been in her earlier bouts. The bronze medal final was a close fight, but she made a small error that opened the door for her opponent to score. All in all, though, she did great, and she had a very good day,” explained Canadian coach Antoine Bouchard.

In the under-52 kg division, Helena Martins De Oliveira, Melody Grenier and Rima Bourihane were limited to one bout each on Sunday.

On the men’s side, Artem Neyolov also got his day off to a strong start in the under-81 kg weight class. After winning three straight matches, he was defeated in the quarter-finals by France’s Noah Boue Kossa, who went on to capture the category’s gold medal.

In the repechage, Neyolov bested Alex Faustin Ntipadem Nouni of Italy, before falling to Veljko Varnicic of Serbia, who went on to win bronze. The Ontarian thus finished seventh in the under-81 kg group.

“Although Artem finished seventh, he had some big wins today, especially against the Italian in the repechage, where he dominated the match. His two losses were against medal winners, who were both high-calibre opponents. It’s not the result he was hoping for, but it was a very positive day,” concluded Bouchard.