Montréal, July 12, 2026 – Team Canada’s judokas wrapped up the European Junior Cup tournament in Paks, Hungary, with a silver and a bronze medal Sunday. Today’s two medals are on top of the two bronzes won during yesterday’s bouts on the tatami.

Sunday, Rima Bourihane (-52 kg) earned herself a silver medal after losing in the gold medal bout to Serbia’s Mina Gacic. In her last match of the day, the Québec-based judoka endured until the very end of the regulation four minutes – but her opponent managed to keep Bourihane at bay, as Coach Antoine Bouchard said.

“The level of competition today was quite high, and the two victories Bourihane secured on Sunday were very impressive. Beyond the quantity (three bouts), it was really about quality. In the final, her opponent managed the match well. Overall, Rima was rewarded for her efforts to keep the bout going.”

Québec’s Melody Grenier was the other medalist of the day for the Canadian contingent. Grenier finished third in the Under 57-kg division by winning her bronze-medal match against Tatiana Tsvetova (Russia), who had previously defeated Québec’s Nicola Daria Manaila in an earlier bout.

“Melody is competing in her first tournament series in her new weight class. We saw some positive signs last week, and today she was truly outstanding! She was in great shape, performed very consistently, and defeated some tough opponents. This is probably one of the best days of her career. She was able to bring the qualities that made her so strong in the Under 52-kg division with her into her new weight category,” Bouchard noted.

The other bronze-medal match in this category pitted Québec’s Laurence Gagnonagainst Medine Oraznyyazova (Turkmenistan), with the latter emerging victorious. Coach Bouchard analysed the bout in these terms, “I think Laurence fought better than her opponent. She had some great opportunities and at times dominated, but unfortunately, she gave up a yuko and couldn’t come back from that. It’s a little disappointing for her, because she bounced back well after her first loss.”

Artem Noyolov (-81 kg) also competed in a bronze medal match in his division against Serbia’s Dusan Grahovac, who won the bronze medal at this same competition last year. To the dismay of the Canadians, Grahovac made it a repeat performance and defeated the Ontarian by ippon, in what was the latter’s sixth bout of the day.

Nicola Daria Manaila (Québec) was the other Canadian judoka to earn a ranking Sunday, and finished seventh in the Under 57 kg division with a 2-2 score card.

Saturday, women judokas took centre stage, winning two bronze medals courtesy excellent performances by Carla Van Zyl (-63 kg) and Missy Jen Dorval Mbele (-70 kg). Reflecting on the event, Antoine Bouchard highlighted the performances of the young athletes on the Canadian team.

“What I liked today – above and beyond the medals – is that the few cadet athletes who were with us performed very well. Franck David Moussima Ewane Elouti, Nicola Daria Manaila, and Sarmat Kibizov, are young athletes that came in without any reservations. They’re gaining experience, but they’re also capable of holding their own against older, more experienced judokas. This bodes very well for the future, and for their World Championships, which will take place in a month,” the coach concluded.

Other Team Canada results from Sunday:

Addyson Tamura (-52 kg), Alberta, 0-2, unranked
Valeria Kostrovets (-57 kg), Québec, 0-1, unranked
Sarmat Kibizov (-81 kg), Ontario, 2-1, unranked
Matthew Molchanov (-90 kg), Ontario, 0-1, unranked
Franck David Moussima Ewane Elouti (-100 kg), 2-2, unranked