Montréal, September 10^th, 2011 – The Manitoban judokas Julien Mitchell and Tarek Elmeyergi both took home bronze medals, Saturday, at the Pan-American Championships U17-U20 taking place in Santiago, Chile.

Mitchell navigated his way to the third place finish in the -100 kg category (under-20 competition), while in the under-17’s, Elmeyergi excelled in the -90kg class.

Mitchell was forceful and aggressive in his two wins over American Max Bermont, and the Chilean Alan Silva.  It was only the Ecuadorian William Avellanda, who kept him from a perfect day. “Julien did his job.  He came out on top against higher ranked opponents, as well as excelling versus judokas that were stronger than him physically,” Canadian coach Sergio Pessoa explained.

Also in action in the under-20’s, Quebecer, Arthur Margelidon, finished 5th in the Under 73 kg class.  After losing to the Brazilian Andrey Del Rosso, he was able to classify for the bronze medal bout by beating Chilean Christopher Herrera, in the L bracket. Unfortunately, Margelidon was not able survive the furious attacks of the Colombian Juan Arango, and had to settle for a 5^th finish. “I was expecting a bit more from Arthur, especially since he finished second in this competition last year, Pessoa pointed out.  During the bronze medal bout today, he was leading by a yuko with twenty seconds left.  Instead of playing defensive he decided to attack a final time, only to be taken down with a bout-clinching Waza-ari.”

Two wins and two losses for Elmeyergi

In the under-17 event, Elmeyergi won two and lost two fights on his way to a podium finish.  He showed well in his bouts versus the Venezuelan Antonio Tomasso and the Ecuadorian Joao Velasco, but came up short against the Brazilian Antonio Silva and the Peurto Rican Rafael Fernnor.

Despite losing twice, Ontarian Monika Burgess, fighting in the under 63 kg class, came away with a 5^th place classification.  She lost to the American Alisha Galles and the Chilean Barbara Comen.

Georges Lukas (-60kg) and Willen Pops  (-90kg) both were unable to classify in their respective events.  British Colombian born Lukas saw his day come to a swift end after losing his first bout against the Puerto Rican, Jeffrey Ruiz.

In the case of native Manitoban Pops, he was unable to win in the three bouts he took part in.  He was beaten in successive fashion by the Brazilian Thiago Chodi, the Argentine Martin Oliviera, and finally the Venezuelan Jesus Griset.

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 Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada