Kremerman and Tsatsalashvili Bronze in Sarajevo
3 March 2024
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No fewer than four Canadian judokas competed for medals on the final day of the European Cup in Sarajevo, and two of them climbed on the podium. On Sunday, Evelyn Beaton (-52 kg) and John Jr Messé A Bessong (+100 kg) both earned bronze medals.
Unfortunately for the Albertan, she was defeated in the semis by the eventual silver medallist, Seyma Yildrim of Turkey.
However, Beaton was able to end the competition on a high note with a convincing triumph in her bronze medal tussle against Turkey’s Pinar Boga.
“Evelyn did an excellent job! She pushed her opponent to the limit in her semi-final duel, but was caught by ippon in overtime. It was a matter of seconds at that point. She was dominant in her last fight for the bronze medal”, stated Canadian coach Sasha Mehmedovic.
Also in action on the women’s side, Heidi Quach finished fifth in the under-48 kg weight category. The Quebecer won her first match of the day before heading to the repechage with a second-round loss.
Quach didn’t give up, winning her next two contests against Poland’s Oliwia Kozuch and Bulgaria’s Sofia Rangelova, but she eventually succumbed to Italy’s Elena Guarducci in the bronze medal match.
In the same category, Marie-Lune Turmel was limited to a single bout.
On the men’s side, John Jr Messé A Bessong probably didn’t get off to the start he would have liked as he was caught off guard early by Serbian Mateja Borojevic.
Messé A Bessong was able to bounce back in the repechage, however, where he first defeated Andreas Yiapanis of Cyprus before getting the better of Stefan Kovinic of Montenegro. The Quebecer put an exclamation point on his day with a victory over Tunahan Tutar of Turkey in the bronze final.
“John lost quickly to begin the day, but was dominant afterwards. He probably could have claimed top honours if he hadn’t been caught by surprise in his first fight,” said Mehmedovic.
In the under-81 kg category, Tigran Kryvytskyi almost increased Canada’s medal tally to three on the final day of competition in Sarajevo, but he ultimately fell to Serbia’s Boris Rutovic in his bronze medal duel.
Earlier, Kryvytskyi obtained consecutive victories over Bosnian Ivan Cuzulan, Turkey’s Erman Gurgen and Bulgaria’s Hristo Valkov to book his spot in the semi-finals, where he lost to Serbia’s Mihajlo Simin.
Faniry Michael Andriamanana and Yehor Paladii, who both competed in the under-90 kg weight class, obtained records of 0-1 and 0-2 respectively and were not ranked.
On Saturday, Daniil Kremerman (-66 kg) and Lasha Tsatsalashvili (-73 kg) both climbed to the third step of the podium.
The next European Junior Cup is scheduled for next week in Podgorica, Montenegro.
