Montreal, October 4, 2017 – The Canadian team will return from the Veterans’ World Judo Championships in Olbia, Italy, with two gold medals and one silver. Ronald Angus (U100 kg, ages 60-64) and Vitaliy Polyanskyy (U100 kg, ages 35-39) each claimed gold medals in their respective categories while Rashad Justin Chin (U60 kg, ages 35-39) nabbed the silver medal in his group.

Angus, of Burlington, Ontario, showed no mercy to his three opponents, beating Alain Blondron of France, Peter Danckert of Great Britain, and Nurlan Jarashuyev of Kazakhstan by ippon.

“I finished in second place last year and given than I’d decided that this competition would be my last, I’m very happy and satisfied with my result,” he noted.

“I’m not completely surprised, because my training focused on making several attacks at the beginning of the bout in order to put pressure on my opponents during the second half, where I could take advantage of their mistakes.”

The gold medallist admitted that his toughest opponent was Blondron, of France. “He’s very strong physically and he’s very proficient at counter-attacks.”

Polanskyy, of Toronto, Ontario, also held a perfect record, beating all three of his opponents, the final of which was Ahmed Kebaili of Algeria.

Chin, of Edmonton, Alberta, ousted his first two opponents by ippon before Brazil’s Cristian Cezario relegated him to second place by scoring an ippon himself.

Two other Canadians came within reach of medals at the Italian tournament. Amanda McAlpine of Guelph, Ontario, was defeated by Sweden’s Annika Krus in the bronze medal final in the U78 kg, 35-39 category.

Docu Cezar Popescu of Montreal, Quebec, faced off against four opponents in the +100 kg, 50-54 group. He lost to Paul Holder of the U.S.A. in one of two bronze medal finals.

McAlpine and Popescu finished fifth in their respective categories.

Other Canadian Results

9^th                    Chris Smiley              U81 kg             40-44 years
9^th                    Mathieu Lemay         U81 kg             30-34 years
Not ranked       Luc Dubé                    U100 kg           35-39 years
Not ranked       Paul Thidodeau          U90 kg             45-49 years
Not ranked       Daniel Bird                 U90 kg             55-59 years
Not ranked       Jason Scott                U100 kg           40-44 years
Not ranked       Arthur Targosinski     U73 kg             50-54 years