Montreal, November 23, 2016 – The Canadian delegation to the Veterans World Judo Championships in Fort Lauderdale earned a total of eight medals in the tournament. Two judokas wearing the Maple Leaf stood at the top of the podium at Saturday’s event, which took place in Florida.

“The Canadian contingent had a successful tournament overall. There was a fantastic camaraderie among the team members and it was a great experience, many already expressing an interest of competing again in the 2017 World Veteran Championships”, said coach Aartje Sheffield.

Ralph Ibanez (M8, 65-69 y/o) put in a perfect performance. He overcame his three opponents to win the gold medal in the Under 66 kg class. In his first contest, he beat Francisco Castillejo of Spain by yuko. He then went on to take out Bruno Potschuvay of Germany and Tom Pahlman of Finland, both by ippon.

Ontario’s Herman Vermeiren (M11, 80 y/o and up) came away with the gold medal in his age group’s Under 90 kg. Because there were only three judokas in this division, the tournament took the form of a round robin. He was defeated in his first contest against American Alexander Burgess but was victorious against Georg Matuszek of Germany.

Ronald Angus (M7, 60-64 y/o) reached the finals in the Under 100 kg but bowed out to Luis Tores Cobas of Spain, finishing in second place.

In the Over 78 kg group, Ontario’s Sue Sokol (F5, 50-54 y/o) also scored a silver medal. She won by ippon in her first face-off but succumbed to Rogeria Silva’s waza-ari in her second round. The Brazilian went on to win the competition.

After succumbing to Mongolian Enkhtsetseg Turbat’s shido, Fraser Bridgeman (F1, 30-34 y/o) of Ontario bettered France’s Audren Guilbaud to come away with the silver medal in the Under 63 kg class.

In the Under 60 kg category, Alberta’s Tim Takahashi (M4, 45-49 y/o) yielded to Italian Fabrizio Murroni’s ippon. However, he came back in fine form to dispose of Puerto Rico’s Hiram Cruz and walk away with the bronze.

In the Over 100 kg group, Jeff Allen (M1, 30-34 y/o) of Ontario was bested by ippon in his first match against France’s Xavier Fievet, who went on to win gold. In the repechage, Allen won his bout against Ukrainian Olekshander Kleshnia by ippon and followed up by taking out Spain’s Luis Angel Canovas Ugarte by yoko in the bronze medal match.

Carline Young (F3, 40-44 y/o) of Markham was defeated by Russia’s Ella Kuzmenko, the winner of the tournament, in the Under 57 kg semi-finals. In her bronze medal bout, she came back in full force and bested Britain’s Helen Thompson by ippon. She had started the tournament with a victory by ippon over Kazakhstan’s Ryskul Ynybayva.

Edmunston’s Rinaldo Caggionao (M5, -90 kg, 50-54 y/o), who was representing Brazil in the tournament, won the gold medal in his group.

Other Canadian Results

Daniel Bird (M6, 55-59 y/o, -90 kg, Ontario) 5th place
Michael Morgenroth (M5, 50-54 y/o, -100 kg, Ontario) 5th place
Artur Targosinski  (M5, 50-54 y/o, -73 kg, Ontario) 5th place
Steve Starnes (M9, 70-74 y/o, -90 kg, Ontario) 5th place

Michael Lavoie (M4, 45-49 y/o, -100 kg, Nova Scotia) 9th place
Mark Wilson (M3, +100 kg, 40-44 y/o, Ontario) 9th place

Daniel Poirier (M3, -90 kg, 40-44 y/o, Quebec), 0-1
Chris Smiley (M3, -81 kg, 40-44 y/o, British Columbia), 0-1
Chad Litzenberger (M3, -81 kg, 40-44 y/o, Saskatchewan), 0-1
Kevin Ban (M3, -66 kg, 40-44 y/o, Ontario), 0-1
Steve Starnes (M9, -90 kg, 70-74 y/o, Ontario), 1-2
Brent Colclough (M4, -73 kg, 45-49 y/o, Ontario), 0-1 (injured)

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada