Montréal, June 16, 2013 – The Canadian Dilyaver Sheykhislyamov walked away with a 5^th place finish, Sunday, at the Judo Grand Prix presented in Miami, Florida.

“I’m not satisfied, but not completely unsatisfied either. I had some good bouts; others didn’t go as well. I would have hoped for the last fight to go differently. The medal was right there for the taking,” the judoka explained.

Competing in the under 100 kg category, the 53^rd ranked Ontarian started his day off with a win over the Ecuadorian Jose Merlin by ippon. He then went on to defeat the Argentine Hector Campos after the judges awarded him with the decision.

“Things went really well in those two bouts. The Ecuadorian was physically very strong, but I was able to get the better of him. The Argentine was also quite imposing, but I was a bit more active than him,” he pointed out.

In the semifinals, the Brazilian Hugo Pessanha would put an end to the Canadian’s gold medal hopes, winning with a yuko. “He was very strong and had an excellent grip. On top of the fact that I had three shidos against me, he completely dominated the match.”

In his bronze medal bout, Sheykhislyamov fell in his matchup with the Czech Radek Hecl, who defeated the Ontarian with an ippon.

“He took me by surprise. I was winning the fight by two shidos to one when he threw me to ground with 1 minute 20 seconds left in the bout,” he said.

“If I could do it over again, I’d be more cautious with the lead and not position myself so close to him. I’d keep my distance.”

Also in action, Scott Mcgrandle (-81 kg) lost his first bout to the Mongol Altanbagana Gantulga.

Alexandre Émond (-90 kg) also lost in his first round fight against the American Colton Brown.

Sarah-Myriam Mazouz suffered the same fate in her under 70 kg match versus the German Laura Vargas Koch.

Cotton wins Silver in Celje

In Slovenia, Amy Cotton came away with a silver medal in the under 78 kg class at the European Cup in Celje.  Cotton got off to a quick start with victories over the Spaniard Laia Talarn Compano by ippon and the Frenchwoman Audrey Thorel by a waza-ari.

In the semifinal she took down the German Julia Tillmanns with an ippon before being upset by another German, Annika Heise, in the final.

Alix Renaud-Roy (-70 kg) lost her first fight against the German Elisabeth Greve by yuko before winning her next bout in the repechage over the Dutchwoman Evellen Donker with an ippon. The Quebecoise would unfortunately be eliminated in the next round.