Montréal, September 20, 2014 – The Ontarian judoka Youssef Youssef came away with a gold medal in the under 60 kg class, Saturday, at the European Cup presented in Tampere, Finland. On the women’s side, the Quebecoise Audrée Francis-Méthot and the Albertan Erin Morgan also distinguished themselves, winning silver and bronze medals in the under 48 kg division.

Youssef Youssef was a force to be reckoned with in his three bouts. His day began with victories over the Frenchman Cedric Revol and the Finn Sami Perala. In the grand finale, the Ontarian took down the Finn Otto Koponen, giving the Canadian his first ever -60 kg international title at the senior level.

“It’s a big step for me,” Youssef said. “I got more confident fight by fight, and I was aggressive enough to win. It was a great day.”

“In my first bout, the guy was really strong but I managed to move him around. In the next match, I was really confident that I would win it.  The guy I took on in the finale was very solid, but I wanted it more. I really wanted to win,” concluded Youssef, who defeated Koponen by ippon.

In the same category, the Albertan Darren Dequan Elcock finished 5th with a record of one win and two losses.

Meanwhile, on the women’s side, Audrée Francis-Méthot climbed to the second step of the podium in the under 48 kg division. After victories over the Finn Tea Laakkonen and the Russian Svetlana Stepanova in her first two bouts, the Quebecoise succumbed to defeat in the gold medal match, falling to the Frenchwoman Élisabeth Dubois.

Accompanying Francis-Méthot on the podium was her compatriot Erin Morgan. The Albertan took home a bronze medal by virtue of her win over the Russian Olga Timofeeva. Morgan had previously beaten the Spaniard Daine Cordero Gimenez before dropping her second bout to Stepanova.

Still in the under 48 kg class, the Ontarian Leonida Sheffield came with a 5th place classification after winning one of her three matches.

On Sunday, the Quebecoise Alix Renaud-Roy will be in action in the under 70 kg category. Also plying their trade on the tatamis will be two Ontario-natives, Zachary Burt (- 81 kg) and Martin Rygielski (+ 100 kg).

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada