Darren Elcock ninth in Ukraine

Montréal, August 11, 2011 – The Albertan judoka, Darren Elcock, placed ninth in the under 50 kg division at the cadet World Championships, a competition that brings together all the best under 17-year-old athletes, in Kiev, Ukraine.

Elcock won two of his three fights. He began his day by defeating the American, Tyler Chen, distinguishing himself with two yukos. He then took out Ukrainian judoka, Darren Morgoyev, with an ippon.

It was the Kazakh, Zhaksylyk Mussurmanov, who would eventually bring the Albertan’s day to an end, thanks to an ippon. Mussurmanov would go on to claim a fifth place finish.

“I simply wanted to do my best, so in that sense I’m satisfied,” confided Elcock, who’s participating in his first major international competition.

“He just wanted to go one fight at a time, and he won his first two rather easily,” national coach Marie-Hélène Chisholm explained.

Chisholm then went on to put the Albertan judoka’s loss into perspective. “The Kazakhs are often among the best cadets. Also, Darren went up against one with a lot of experience.”

The Quebecois George Poklitar was also in action on Thursday, in the under 55 kg class.

Unfortunately, Poklitar lost in his very first match against the Kazakh, Yerlan Serikzhanov, after being penalized twice.

Serikzhanov would later go on to climb the podium, taking home one of the two bronze medals up for grabs.

“Despite it all, George had a good day. He would have been able to finish in the top 8, but he ran into an excellent opponent right from the get-go,” Chisholm explained.

George Lukas (60 kg) and Abby Llord (48 kg) of British Colombia, along with Josianne Gagné (48 kg), André Nogeira (66 kg) and Alexia Piché (52 kg) of Québec, will hit the tatamis on Friday.

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 Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada

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