Montréal, September 13, 2013 – Quebecer Ana Laura Portuondo Isasi and New Brunswick-native Mark Fortner came away with bronze medals, Friday, on the last day of competition for judo at the Francophonie Games presented in Nice, France.

Competing for Team Canada, Ana Laura Portuondo Isasi won two of her three bouts in the under 78 kg category.

Exempted from the first round, she scored an ippon against the Moroccan Houssna Zrhari in the quarterfinals, but fell in the semis to the Pole Furmane Katarzyna who picked up two waza-aris in the contest.

Not to be outdone, Portuondo Isasi turned things around in her bronze medal match, taking down the Cameroonian Hortence Vanessa Mballa Atangana with an ippon.

“I’m satisfied because I came here to gain experience more than anything else. I’m just a little bit disappointed with my second bout that I lost. Otherwise, as far as the two fights that I won, I’m pretty happy,” the Quebecer said.

“The Pole blocked me on my right side. I couldn’t find a way to attack. My reaction time was pretty slow,” she went on to explain about her one loss of the day.

“My coach always tells me to stay to the right, and I felt I did a good job of that against the Cameroonian,” concluded the judoka who will be participating in the Junior World Championships that will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, from the 23th to 27^th of October.

Also in the under 78 kg division, the New Brunswicker Martine Chenhall finished 5^th after winning two of her four matches.

Another New Brunswicker in competition was Mark Fortner, who benefitted from a bye to advance to the next round in the under 100 kg class.

In the semifinals he lost by ippon to the Senegalese Amdy Raby Fall, but came right back with an ippon of his own in one of two bronze medal bouts, defeating the Gabonese Waren Tsoungui.

“I was hoping for a medal and I got one,” Fortner beamed. I’m really happy; it’s the best result of my career. It was my first international competition.”

“I caught a break in the first round where I received a bye because my opponent didn’t make weight,” he explained. I lost my second fight, which was really tight and quite frustrating, then won my third, in a style that was more to my liking.”

Also on Friday, Guillaume Perrault, (Canada) and Marc Deschênes (Quebec), both walked away with 5^th place classifications in the under 90 kg class.

Miguel Raymond (New Brunswick) finished in 7^th after losing his opening round tilt.

Two other members of Team New Brunswick competed at the Francohonie Games. Josh Shannon finished 7^th in the under 66 kg class, while Maxime Raymond placed 9^th in the under 81 kg category. Shannon claimed one victory while Raymond lost in his one and only bout.

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