Montreal, April 14, 2019 – The small team representing Canada at the European Judo Cup in Dubrovnik, in Croatia, had a short day on Sunday.

Maxim Côté (-90 kg) received a bye through the first round. He then faced Ukrainian Vitalii Shepel, the eventual gold medallist, for his first fight of the day, in which his opponent quickly scored an ippon. Côté had a second chance in repechage, this time against Netherlander Jan Reijntjens, the eventual bronze medallist, who also won by ippon. Côté didn’t get a ranking.

Fighting in +100 kg, Marc Deschênes didn’t have much more chance. He fought against Ukrainian Leonid Gasyuk (bronze medallist) in the first round, and lost by ippon. The second round, in which he was also defeated by ippon, was against Guerman Andreev (also bronze medallist), from France. Deschênes ranked in 7^th place.

“Even though the results were disappointing, the tournament is a good place to gain experience for both of them. The path to a podium performance is not always easy and sometimes takes a little longer,” said Patrick Esparbès, COO of Judo Canada.

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Written by Sarah Mailhot for Judo Canada