Montreal, July 12, 2009 – Canada won seven medals on Sunday to conclude a World Cup judo tournament in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

 

The medallists for the women were Amy Cotton of Judique, N.S., with silver in 78 kilos while Catherine Roberge of Beauport, Que., also in 78 kilos, and Kelita Zupancic of Whitby, Ont., in 70 kilos earned bronze. 

 

On the men’s side bronze medals were won by Michal Popiel of Montreal in 66 kilos, Nicholas Tritton of Perth, Ont., in 73 kilos, Alexandre Émond of Varennes, Que., in 90 kilos and Scott Edward of Calgary in 100 kilos.

 

‘’It`s a great day for the Canadian team,’’ said Cotton.  ‘’We are all happy today.’’

 

Cotton opened with victories over Gislaine Araujo of Brazil and Kayla Harrison of the U.S.,  then lost in the final to Hiede Wollert of the Germany.  Wollert scored a bout-ending Ippon 40 seconds into the bout.

 

‘’Obviously I’m disappointed to lose the final but the goal here was to win a medal,’’ said Cotton, who was caught off guard by the German’s technique.  ‘’She fights like the men and I don’t like that.  She kept close and she put her hand behind my back.  Therefore she was able to land her throw.’’

 

Cotton plans to train with judokas with a similar style in preparation for the world championships.

 

Roberge lost to Wollert in the semifinal.  In between, she opened with a victory over Rafaela Nitz of Brazil and defeated Annika Heise of Germany for the bronze.

 

Zupancic beat Katie Sell of the U.S., for the bronze after losing to Maria Portela of Brazil in the semifinal.

 

Costly error for Tritton

 

Tritton opened with Ippon victories over Martin Campo of Uruguay and Andrew Porras of the U.S., before falling the same way to Yoel Razvozov of Israel.

 

‘’It was a close bout,’’ said Tritton about his match against Razvozov.  ‘’With 90 seconds left I put myself in a bad position and he capitalized on the opportunity.  It cost me the match.  I’m not too disappointed he’s a strong combatant.’’

 

Tritton beat Jean-Phillips Gagnon of Baie-Comeau, Que., for the bronze.  ‘’It’s always difficult to face a guy you train with everyday,’’ said Tritton.

 

Gagnon made his way back to the medal round through the repechage and places fifth.  In the same category, Olivier Aubin-Mercier of Longueuil, Que., was seventh with a 1-2 record and Scott McGrandle of Vancouver (0-1) was not ranked.

 

Popiel also won his first two bouts before losing to Leandro Cunha of Brazil in the semifinal.  He trumped Carlos Figueroa of El Salvador for the bronze.

 

Émond defeated Diego Rosati of Argentina for the bronze.  He opened with a win over Victor Braga of Brazil before dropping his semifinal to Edouardo Santos, also of Brazil.

 

Edward lost his opening bout to Leandro Goncalves of Brazil.  In the repechage he beat Jonas Inocencio of Brazil for  the bronze medal.

 

In men’s 81 kilos, Kalem Kachur of Montreal (1-2) was fifth and Guillaume Perrault of Longueuil (0-2) was not ranked.

 

The Canadian judokas return home Wednesday to continue their preparations for the world championships.