Montreal, May 9, 2015 – ‘Start again with a clean slate’ is surely a refrain this weekend for Canadian judokas at the Baku Judo Grand Slam in Azerbaijan; only one Canadian was able to win a single bout on the tatami.

After Ecaterina Guica and Patrick Gagné were halted in their first matches on Friday, Monika Burgess was the only Canadian to see a victory this Saturday; Alix Renaud-Roy, Stéfanie Tremblay, Arthur Margelidon, and Alexis Morin-Martel all were defeated in their first rounds.

In the Under 70kg class, Burgess (world-ranked 52^nd) won against Irina Gazieva (41^st internationally) with a yuko. The judoka from Waterloo, Ontario was nonetheless halted in her second round with an ippon handed out by Brazil’s Maria Portela (20^th internationally).

In the same weight class, Renaud-Roy, of La Pocatière, Quebec (world-ranked 35^th) was also eliminated with an ippon from Spain’s Maria Bernabeu, who currently sits at 28^th place in the world.

Stéfanie Tremblay – who made the jump to the Under 63kg class at the beginning of this year – lost against Brazil’s Mariana Silva, (14^th internationally). The judoka from Saguenay, Quebec ended her bout with two penalties versus Silva’s single penalty.

Montreal’s Arthur Margelidon and Gaspé’s Alexis Morin-Martel, both competing in the Under 73kg category, were both defeated by ippons.

Receiving a pass from the first round, Margelidon (world-ranked 28^th) was beaten by Russia’s Denis Iartcev (16^th internationally).

Morin-Martel – who sits at 49^th place in international rankings – saw his day come to an end courtesy Spain’s Kiyoshi Uematsu (world-ranked 37^th).

“For some this is was their third competition in three weeks, so, I think that many of them were mentally and physically tired,” commented Coach Sasha Mehmedovic.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada