Montréal, August 13, 2011 – Louis Kreiber-Gagnon had an excellent day, Saturday, battling his way to a fifth place finish in the under 73 kg class, in what was day three of the under-17 World Championships taking place in Kiev, Ukraine.

Kreiber-Gagnon worked quickly in his first bout, performing an ippon for the victory versus the Kazakh, Pavel Bits. He then took out his next two opponents by way of a yuko, first the Lebanese, Kevin Nicolaos, and then the Czech, Radek Vonavka, in overtime.

His fourth bout against the Israeli, Uri Kvashna Bar Tal, was a bit trickier, as the Quebecois won by decision.

Kreiber-Gagnon’s run then hit a snag, as he suffered two defeats in a row against Georgian opponents. He first lost his semifinal bout against Beka Dongvani, a fight where he was penalized twice, and then fell in the bronze medal fight to Levan Gugava, who won with a waza-ari.

“I’m a little disappointed to have come so close to winning a bronze medal, the Canadian judoka explained. I was able drop him (Gugava) on his side, but the judges didn’t give me a point.”

“Louis is very demanding of himself. His performance today was exceptional, national coach Marie-Hélène Chisholm affirmed. This is his very first year of competition in the under-17’s. It’s rare to obtain this good a result at such a young age.”

Kreiber-Gagnon is competing in just his second international competition. In March, he competed in a tournament presented in Bremen, Germany. Despite his inexperience, he was able to realize his goal in Ukraine, which was to finish amongst the top 5.

“He fought against boys who were quite a bit more mature then him, physically. Despite it all, he was able battle hard in all his bouts right to the end. He didn’t have an easy road to navigate, and still almost came away with a medal,” Chisholm concluded enthusiastically.

Stiff competition

Also in action on Saturday, Ontarian Monica Burgess, and Albertan, Jaquina Simao were eliminated by European champions and future medalists at these very Championships in Kiev.

In the under 63 kg class, Burgess defeated by way of ippon the Belorussian, Maryna Heryatovich, but was subsequently taken down with a yuko by the Brit, Katie-Jemima Yeats-Brown, the eventual bronze medalist.

Simao, for her part, lost by ippon to the Dutch judoka, Dominique Velema, cadet vice-champion of the world in the under 57 kg class at the end of the day.

Finally, in the under 81 kg division, the Quebecer, Petro Poklitar, was vanquished by way of ippon in his duel with the Mongol, Samdanjamts Baasanjav.

Sunday, the Quebecers Tommy Hébert-Lemieux (+90 kg) and Analaura Portuondo-Isasi (+70 kg) along with the Manitobans Tarek Elmayergi (+90 kg) and Willem Pops (90 kg) will be in action.

Junior European Cup

Two Canadian judokas were on display, Saturday, in the Junior European Cup being presented in Berlin, Germany. The Quebecois, Michaël Fortin-Demers and Ontarian, Derek Langlois came away with silver and bronze medals, respectively, at the under-20 competition.

Fortin-Demers won four of his five bouts in the under 66 kg category, while Langlois won six of seven fights in the under 73 kg class.

The other Canadians in action in Germany did not receive a classification. Daphnée Pitre (52 kg), Antoine Bouchard (60 kg) and Youssef Youssef (55 kg) all won one bout before being eliminated. Audrée Francis Méthot (57 kg), Nicole Jenicek (57 kg), Étienne Briand (73 kg), Zachary Burt (73 kg), Arthur Margelidon (73 kg) and Johny Nagy (73 kg) all lost their first bouts, respectively.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada