Montreal, June 2, 2019 – Several Canadian judokas were in action at the Junior European Cup on Sunday in Leibnitz, in Austria. While he was confident before the start of the tournament, things didn’t go as coach James Millar had planned.
The Canadian team coach was disappointed by the performance of the seven athletes. After showing good performances at the National Championships a few weeks ago, Millar was hoping to see them carry forward that form.
“This is a high-level Junior Tour event, but I had expectations for our athletes to be more competitive and stand out. It wasn’t the case, but now we will refocus on the training camp for the next few days and prepare for the Pan Am events over the summer.”
In -66 kg, Dontae De Jesus won against Saudi Arabian Abdulelah Aljayzani before being defeated by Japanese Yuhi Aida. In repechage, the athlete wasn’t able to defeat British Michael Fryer.
“I’m happy with my victory, but I think I could have done better after, especially in the last fight,” said De Jesus. “I wasn’t ready, and I froze. I wasn’t mentally ready; that’s what made the difference.”
Also fighting in that category, Erik Vandersanden lost against Russian Kazbek Naguchev in the first round.
Fighting in -73 kg, Daniel Maman got a bye through the first round, but was defeated by Irish Joshua Green in the next round. Like his teammate, Sava Antic went straight to the second round, where he was eliminated by German Max Henke.
Finally, two Canadians were fighting in the -81 kg category: Nicholas Langlois and Solomon Choran. Langlois was eliminated in his first match by Georgian Giorgi Sherazadishvili, while Choran defeated Ukrainian Marat Kryzhanskyi. He was then eliminated by Georgian Dimitri Gochilaidze in the second round.
Only one woman was representing Canada in Austria. Rachel Krapman (-63 kg) was defeated by her first opponent, German Dewi Devries. “I was excepting better results today. I got here with a positive attitude, but I have to work on a few things, namely my mental preparation,” she said.
Similar Day for Krieber-Gagnon
Louis Krieber-Gagnon was fighting in -90 kg at the European Open, held in Cluj-Napoca, in Romania. The Montrealer started strong by eliminating his former teammate, Croatian Antonijo Garasic Ernjes.
He was then eliminated by waza-ari by Slovak Miroslav Blahusiak. “I think I could have done better. I made a wrong attack, and he (Blahusiak) countered me. I wasn’t able to throw him after that,” commented Krieber-Gagnon.
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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
Information:
Patrick Esparbès
Chief Operating Officer
Judo Canada
(514) 668-6279
p.esparbes@judocanada.org
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