Harder Day than Anticipated at European Cup
Montréal, September 23, 2024 – A number of Canadians stood out on the Pan-American Kata Championships in Bogotá, Colombia, this previous weekend, claiming a complete of six medals, together with two gold.
“It was an awesome event! We’re very happy. For a number of of the members, it was their first worldwide event, and we noticed some nice outcomes,” mentioned Gérald Poirier, head of Judo Canada’s kata committee.
Canada’s medal winners included the duos made up of Daniel Chook and Masoud Naeimi and of Shane Rooney and Bailey Hu, who received gold of their respective occasions.
“Canada is getting stronger in kata, which is nice. We’re completely happy about that. However each time we win quite a lot of medals, we’re nonetheless at all times shocked, as a result of we by no means take something as a right,” added Poirier.
Within the extremely aggressive senior Kodokan Goshin Jutsu remaining, Chook and Naeimi got here out on prime with 164.7 factors, simply forward of their Ontarian teammates Allyn Takahashi and Tony Walby, who took silver with 164.2.
Leonardo Londono and Daniel Agudelo of Colombia accomplished the rostrum with 156.7 factors.
In Kime No Kata, Ontarians Rooney and Hu secured gold with 168.8 factors, edging out Colombians Junior Jefrey Hernandez and Cristian Ortiz, who received silver with 166.5. Lisa Capriotti and Robert Gouthro of the USA clinched bronze with 164.2 factors, simply forward of Canadian duos Shane Legros and Dan Rusu (163.5) and Mario Pageau and Martin Vallières (162.8), who completed fourth and fifth, respectively.
In U23 Nage No Kata, Quebec’s Zachary Mainville and Thomas Warolin gave their all within the remaining to say silver with 116.0 factors.
“We’re very happy with them. Their preparation has improved dramatically, and so they’ve been working very exhausting, so we’re wanting ahead to seeing nice issues from them sooner or later.”
Juan Diego Londoño and Juan Diego Caicedo of Colombia secured gold with 116.5 factors, whereas their countrymates Maria Camila Restrepo and Julieth Cortes took bronze with 113.5.
In senior Nage No Kata, Rooney and Hu, who received bronze in the identical occasion on the 2022 World Championships, repeated the feat as soon as once more, finishing the rostrum with 120.3 factors. Brazil’s Roger Tsuyoshi Uchida and Paulo Ferreira clinched gold with 129.0 factors, forward of Edwin Gomez and Gerardo Andres Restrepo of Colombia (123.5 factors).
In Ju No Kata, Quebec’s Simon Gauthier-Hansen and Juliette Mireault superior to the ultimate, the place they clinched bronze with 127.2 factors, edging out their teammates Legros and Rusu, who completed fourth with 124.7 factors. Brazilian duos Roberto Carlos Pereira and Nadia Hori (132.8 factors) and Roger Tsuyoshi Uchida and Roberto Ferreira (129.8 factors) received gold and silver, respectively.
Images : Simon Gauthier-Hansen
A troublesome day in Podgorica
Canadian judokas Mohab ElNahas and Daniel McCristall had hoped for a greater end result on the European Cup in Podgorica, Montenegro, this previous weekend.
Though he was the one Canadian to win a match, veteran Ontarian ElNahas (-90 kg) had a troublesome day on Sunday, each bodily and mentally.
“Proper from the start of the day, I wasn’t feeling all that nice. I don’t know why. Some days are similar to that. My cardio wasn’t superb,” admitted the 28-year-old judoka, who additionally served as Canadian spokesperson on the occasion.
Having begun the day with a bye, ElNahas fulfilled his personal expectations by profitable his first bout towards Leonidas Hytonen of Switzerland. “I received my first spherical simply. He was a bodily man, however I got here up with the correct technique. I threw him for a waza-ari and was in a position to maintain on to it for the win,” he defined.
Within the third spherical, ElNahas bowed out to Serbia’s Vojin Mandic by ippon. Mandic later received the silver medal.
“Bodily, I used to be stronger than him, and I dominated the primary couple of minutes of the match. When he got here in with the belt at shut vary, he countered me, however I fell on prime of him first. I assumed the purpose was mine, however it went to him, which was disappointing. It sort of acquired to me mentally,” mentioned ElNahas on the finish of the day.
ElNahas superior to the repechage, the place he was defeated by Bozidar Vucurevic of Bosnia, who later received a bronze medal.
“The 2 individuals I misplaced to ended up on the rostrum, which made me really feel higher, realizing I hadn’t misplaced to judokas who have been weaker than me. I realized quite a bit. I made a couple of errors, and it simply wasn’t my day, however I hope to get again on monitor subsequent week in Prague,” concluded the Canadian.
On Saturday, within the under-66 kg class, 22-year-old McCristall acquired a bye earlier than dropping his solely bout of the day by ippon to Petar Radovic of Montenegro.
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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
For extra data:
Patrick Esparbès
Chief Working Officer
Judo Canada
(514) 668-6279
p.esparbes@judocanada.org
