Montréal, September 29, 2012 – The judoka Joliane Melançon came away with a bronze medal, Saturday, on what was the first day of competition at the Judo World Cup taking place in Rome.

Sitting 12^th in the world in the under 57 kg class, the Quebecoise got off to a great start, recording victories by ippon in her first two bouts against Nora Gjakova and the Dutchwoman Carla Grol.

The 26-year-old Melançon was stopped in the semifinals, however, by the 125^th ranked Frenchwoman Hélène Receveaux.  Receveaux caught the Quebecer  mid-way through the bout, ending the match in dramatic style with an ippon.

Not to be outdone, Melançon returned to the tatamis for the bronze medal fight and came away victorious, defeating the Frenchwoman Morgane Brunet, 41^st in the world, and thus claiming her spot on the third step of the podium.

As for Receveaux, she went on to claim the gold medal by winning her head-to-head tilt with the Dutchwoman Sanne Verhagen.  The second bronze medal went to Nora Gjakova.

Competing in the same division, Stéphanie Tremblay finished 7^th, thanks to a record of two wins and two losses.

Also in action on Saturday were the judokas Charles Breton-Leduc (60 kg), Alexandre Dibartolo (60 kg), Antoine Bouchard (66 kg), Patrick Gagné (66 kg), Alister Ward (66 kg), Étienne Briand (73 kg), Justin Imagawa (73 kg), Arthur Margelidon (73 kg), Miguel Ngombi (73 kg), Audrey Francis-Méthot (53 kg), Nicole Jenicek (57 kg) and Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard (63 kg), none of whom were able to obtain a classification.