Montréal, July 25, 2014 – Montreal judokas Alix Renaud-Roy and Jonah Burt both earned 3^rd place finishes, Friday, at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games presented in Scotland.

Renaud-Roy won three of her four bouts in the under 70 kg category, while Burt lost just one of his five contests in the under 81 kg class.

Only British judoka Megan Fletcher, who would eventually go on to claim Commonwealth gold, was able to defeat Renaud-Roy. The 44^th ranked Quebecer took down the Cameroonian Fabiola Ndanga Nana (46^th) in her first bout before falling to Fletcher, the 40^th ranked judokaand winner of a Pan-American Open this year.

Despite the loss, it was also a small victory for the Montrealer. “The fight went really well. I faced her at the Montevideo Pan-American Open in Uruguay last March, and I had tough go of it. Today I only lost on penalties; it was a much closer fight.”

In the repechage, Renaud-Roy defeated by ippon the silver medalist at an oceanic Open from last year, the Australian Sara Collins (45^th), and then followed that up with the same result versus another Australian, the 36^th ranked Catherine Arscott, in the bronze medal match.

“My goal was a podium finish. I followed the game-plan my coaches gave me and by doing that, I was able to achieve my goal,” noted the 21-year-old athlete, who was particularly good on the ground. “I took on girls with a lot of experience, but I managed to get the job done.”

“I was well aware that it had been 12 years since judo was last featured at the Commonwealth Games, so to win a medal today is all the more satisfying,” Renaud-Roy concluded.

Also in the under 70 kg class, Monika Burgess (52^nd) lost in both of her contests. She fell by an ippon against the 20^th ranked, two-time oceanic champion, New Zealander Moira De Villiers, before succumbing to defeat in the repechage, losing in overtime to the Indian Sunibala Huidrom. 

A first for Burt

Burt’s road to the podium was far more expeditious, winning all of his bouts by ippon in 2 minutes and 50 seconds or less. He beat in successive fashion the Welshman Craig Ewers, the New Zealander Ivica Pavlinic, ranked 17^th and the defending oceanic champion, as well as the Cameroonian Louis Messi.

The Ontario-native, who currently resides in Montréal, saw his winning run come to an end in the semifinals against the Brit Owen Livesey, currently ranked 79^th after two silver medal performances in 2014 at Pan-American Opens, before taking down the Cypriot Robert Nicola to claim the bronze medal.

“It’s my first medal in a senior competition at the international level,” Burt pointed out, clearly proud of his accomplishment. “It was a really long day for me; I woke up at six o’clock this morning.”

“I’m really happy, but I wish I could go back and redo that semifinal,” added the 19-year-old judoka, who was still perplexed by his match against Livesey, who went on to claim Commonwealth gold. 

5^th place finishes

Béatrice Valois-Fortier, competing in the under 63 kg division, and Louis Krieber-Gagnon  (-81 kg), also qualified for respective bronze medal bouts, but both would eventually settle for 5^th place classifications.

Valois-Fortier was dominant in wins over North Irishwoman Kirsty Kee and Brit Faith Pitman, (gold medalist at the Croatian Grand Prix last year) winning by an ippon and a yuko, but succumbed to defeat by a waza-ari against the Cameroonian Helene Wezeu Dombeu and then by an ippon to the Brit Katie-Jemima Yeats-Brown.

Krieber-Gagnon had a similar competition, defeating the Malawian Alfred Linguni by an ippon followed by a win over the 2013 oceanic champion, the New Zealander Mark Brewer, but then lost two successive bouts, first by an ippon versus Brit Tom Reed (gold medalist at the Miami Grand Prix last year) followed by a loss in the bronze medal bout against the Zambian Boas Munyong.

On the last day of the judo tournament at the Commonwealth Games, Saturday, Ana Laura Portuondo Isasi (-78 kg), Sophie Vaillancourt (+78 kg) and Martin Rygielski (+100 kg) will all be action for the Canadian contingent.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada