Montréal, August 29, 2014 – Kelita Zupancic came away with a 7^th place classification in the under 70 kg category, Friday, at the Judo World Championships presented in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Monika Burgess and Catherine Roberge were eliminated in their respective first bouts.

The Ontarian Zupancic finished her day with a record of two wins and two losses. She started well with two victories in the preliminary matches, defeating the Swiss Juliane Robra by an ippon and the Angolan Antonia Moreira by a waza-ari. The Canadian judoka then went on to lose her third bout in the prelims against the Japanese Karen Nun Ira, which forced her to pass through the repechage, where she lost to the Pole Katarzyna Klys.

“I came here to win a medal, so I guess it means I’ll need to go back to the drawing board,” Zupancic acknowledged. “There are a few things I need to work on. In the second exchange against the Polish judoka, I got thrown to ground for a big score, and then I was just playing catch-up for the rest of the fight. In the end it was just a bad start and I never could find a way back into it. She was also very defensive.”

“In two weeks I’ll be in Croatia to compete again,” she continued. “My goal going forward is the Olympic Games. There’s no time to think, I just need to improve and keep going.”

It was a tougher day for the Montrealer Monika Burgess (-70 kg), who succumbed to defeat in her very first match, falling to Aleksandra Samardzic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“I’m fairly satisfied with how I did, but I know it could have gone better,” Burgess indicated. “It’s my first world championships, so I’m just happy to be here.”

“I get more experience from this than a good result. I really just need the experience; that’s the most important thing for me. I need a lot more practice against the best judokas out there,” she went on to say.

In the under 78 kg division, Catherine Roberge also lost in her one and only bout, losing to the American Kayla Harrison in the prelims.

Kyle Reyes will be in action on Saturday in the -100 kg class.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada