Montreal, January 25, 2009 – Catherine Roberge of Beauport, Que., was the top Canadian at a World Cup judo competition in Sofia, Bulgaria with a fifth place finish in women’s 78 kilos. Ontario’s Kelita Zupancic was seventh in women’s 70 kilos.

Roberge opened with a victory by Ippon over Luise Malzahn of Germany but suffered the same fate in her next bout at the 2:35 mark in a loss to Natalia Kazantseva of Russia

‘’It’s unfortunate because it is a bout in which I was attacking,’’ said Roberge. ‘’I got caught in my own game. She ducked a throwing attempt and I wound up in the wrong position.’’

In the repechage, Roberge scored an Ippon victory over Victoria Turks of Ukraine at the 3 :27 mark. In the bronze medal bout against Marhinde Verkerk of the Netherlands, Roberge was assessed two penalties and lost by Yuko. Both of Roberge’s losses were to the two bronze medallists.

‘’Even though I’m not in peak physical shape, I should have been on the podium,’’ said Roberge. ‘’I couldn’t get a proper hold on her and when I did she removed my hand. I fell in her trap and I shouldn’t have based on my experience.’’

In the same category, Marylise Lévesque of La Pocatière, Que., lost her opening bout to Tonomi Okamura of Japan who finished fifth. Hitomi Ikeda of Japan won the gold.

Zupancic also registered two wins in the tournament. She defeated Seyda Bayram of Turkey and Anne-Kathrin Lisewski of Germany, both by Ippon. Then she lost by Waza-Ari to Catherine Jacques of Belgium, the eventual silver medallist. In the repechage, Zupanic was eliminated by Rasa Sraka of Slovenia. Sraka went on to earn the bronze.

Coaches in the stands

Coaches are no longer allowed to sit at mat-side in international judo. They are now in the stands among the spectators. A potential problem when there are large crowds.

‘’There are athletes who heavily rely on their coaches,’’ said Roberge. ‘’It wasn’t an issue here but it’ll be interesting to see what happens in Paris with 15,000 spectators.’’

No ranking on Saturday

Joliane Melançon and Bianca Ockedahl both posted a win and a loss in women’s 57 kilos and 48 kilos respectively. Melançon defeated Luize Pevadze of Georgia at the 3 :53 mark then lost to Hedvig Karakas of Hungary at 4 :48. Laurie Whiltshire lost her opening bout to Sophie Johnstone of Britain.

Coach Marie-Hélène Chisholm said the field was strong. ‘’It’s a different circuit now,’’ she said. ‘’A lot of things have changed. The Olympic selection process gets underway now three years before the Games instead of two. So athletes can already gain points towards Olympic selection. The fields are much stronger than usual in a post-Olympic year.’’

Men’s World Cup in Tbilisi

Jean-Philippe Gagnon of Baie-Comeau, Que., lost by Yuko in his opening bout Saturday in men’s 73 kilos to Zaza Kedelashvili of Gerogia, who went on to win silver. On Sunday, in 81 kilos, Antoine Valois-Fortier of Quebec City lost his opening bout to Levan Tsiklauri of Georgia, the eventual silver medallist by Ippon.





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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada

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