Montréal, December 7, 2024 – Isabelle Harris (-63 kg), the only Canadian judoka in action on day one of the Tokyo Grand Slam, lost her only bout of the day to a future bronze medallist.

In her opening match on Saturday, the British Columbian found herself pitted against Japan’s Minami Aono at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. Aono scored an ippon one minute and 52 seconds into the fight, putting an end to Harris’s run at her first-ever Tokyo Grand Slam—a tournament where the competition level is particularly high, year after year.

Isabelle Harris (Photo Tom Taylor)

Later in the day, Aono defeated her countrymate Megumi Horikawa to capture a bronze medal, just as she did last May at the Astana Grand Slam in Kazakhstan.

In the all-Japanese under-63 kg big final, Haruka Kaju ousted Megu Danno to secure the gold medal in a bout that required a minute of overtime.

Today’s tournament was Harris’s first Grand Slam appearance since 2021, when she competed at the Tbilisi, Antalya, and Paris events. More recently, the 23-year-old judoka secured a bronze medal at the European Open in Prague and finished fifth at the Pan-American Open at Montréal’s Centre Pierre-Charbonneau.

On Sunday, François Gauthier-Drapeau and Keagan Young will step onto the tatamis in the under-81 kg tournament. Shady ElNahas and Kyle Reyes will compete in the under-100 kg category, while Coralie Godbout takes on her fellow contenders in the under-78 division.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada

For more information:

Patrick Esparbès
Chief Operating Officer
Judo Canada
(514) 668-6279
p.esparbes@judocanada.org