Montreal, August 13, 2015 – Despite a slow start this Thursday, Ontario judoka Alexander Radoman climbed onto the third step of the podium in the Under 81kg class at the ParaPan American Games at the Whitby sports centre.

After losing by ippon in his quarter-final match against the tournament favourite, Mexican Eduardo Avila, Radoman dished out his share of ippons in his next two bouts: in repechage, against American Ryan Jones, and in the fight for one of the bronze medals, against Cuban Isao Cruz.

“My objective was to make the podium and that’s what I did,” said the athlete from Hamilton. “It sure is satisfying. It’s the same results as two years ago, at the IBSA Parapans in Colorado.”

“I’m happy with how I managed to stay calm in my last two matches. I wasn’t really calm for my first one. My technique was a small part of the puzzle; it was more my mental game that made the difference.”

Unfortunately, Radoman didn’t score enough points in the past few months to qualify for the Rio de Janeiro Paralympic Games. “I just want to keep training hard in Montreal and see what happens,” said the judoka, who has been training at the national centre since July.

Tony Walby, from Ottawa, will be the last Canadian to get on the mat at the ParaPan American Games, competing in the Under 90kg on Friday.  

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada