Montreal, August 7, 2015 – Albertan Tanner Sudo may not have won his match on Friday, but he did walk away with a lot more experience at the World Cadet Judo Championships in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was up against a worthy opponent, Russia’s Pavel Berlin, ranked 1^st in the world in the Under 81kg class, and lost after taking three penalties against his rival’s two.

 Coach Jean-Pierre Cantin was very proud of the Lethbridge athlete, 24^th in the world. “Tanner was up against a really strong rival!,” said Cantin. “He put up a great fight and tried strategies, but he didn’t manage to bounce back and score. I am happy with his performance – a true warrior!”

Hana Kuno, 28^th in the world and also from Lethbridge, was eliminated in her first bout, in the Under 63kg division. She lost by ippon to Ukrainian Hannah Kukharuk (13^th in the world), who would go on to win a bronze in the competition.

 “Hana started out strong and was leading by a shido,” explained the coach. “But then she crumbled under the pressure of her opponent’s attacks and ended up being immobilized on the ground.”

Waterloo, Ontario athlete Natalie Rygielski (Under 57kg) was also stopped in her first match, against Bulgarian Izabel Hristova.

 “She worked hard and came close to pinning her opponent down,” said the coach. “But then the Bulgarian made good use of her kumikata and Natalie couldn’t figure a way out. She ended up losing by shido.” 

 Cantin believes that experience was the main weakness for the Canadian judokas in Sarajevo. “They all need to go out and compete more, and go to more international camps, to get a better hang of it,” he said.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada