Montréal, October 24, 2014 – it turned out to be a difficult third day of competition for the Canadian contingent, Friday, at the Junior Judo World Championships in Miami, Florida. None of the Canadians athletes were able to advance past the preliminary phase.

In the under 70 kg division, Whitby, Ontario-native Monika Burgess got off to a good start with an impressive victory over the American Olivia Winsor, winning with an ippon and two yukos. Unfortunately her day would come to an end soon after, dropping her second match to the Dutchwoman Sanne Van Dijke.

“Monika Burgess was the only judoka with a win today, over the American competitor,” Coach Sasha Mehmedovic explained. “She then lost to the Dutchwoman in a close match.”

Quebecer Béatrice Valois-Fortier (-63 kg) was unable to do better than her teammate, falling in her opening bout to the Montenegrin Ivana Sunjevic.

“I definitely could have done better,” the Quebecoise judoka indicated. “I had a tough time getting a good grip for my attacks.”

“Obviously my goal was to get a podium finish, but a top-7 finish would have also been a decent result. I’m going to put this day behind me and focus all my attention on my next competition,” she concluded.

Jonah Burt (-81 kg), also from Whitby, saw his day come to an end after his very first match, succumbing to defeat versus the Japanese Toshimasa Ogata, who won with an ippon.

In the same category, the Montrealer Louis Krieber-Gagnon also fell in his opening bout, falling to the Greek Konstantinos Saridis by a waza-ari.

“I’m disappointed because if it hadn’t been for a mistake I made, I probably would have won the fight,” Krieber-Gagnon explained. “In the middle of the bout I was winning by a shido and I decided to go for a risky attack. My opponent countered me, and I paid the price.”

“I wanted to win a few matches so I could get a little deeper into the table,” he added.

“There’s not a lot of positives to take from the day,” coach Mehmedovic commented.

“It was a tough day all around for our Canadian judokas. Hopefully tomorrow will be a lot better for us.”

The tournament will come to an end on Saturday, with Canadians Martin Rygielski and Ana Laura Portuondo Isasi taking to the tatamis.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada