Montreal, August 8, 2009 – Arthur Margelidon of Montreal was the top Canadian Saturday at the under-17 world judo championships in Budapest finishing ninth in the men’s 73 kilos division.  The Shidokan Club member earned two wins and a loss in the tournament.

 

Ontario’s Kaitlyn Dennis was 1-1 in women’s 57 kilos and Miguel Raymond of Kedgwick, New Brunswick was 0-1 in men’s 81 kilos.  Neither received a final ranking.

 

Margelidon opened with victories against Ivan Duarte of Argentina and Jesus Maradiaga of Guatemala.  He lost his next bout by Ippon to European champion Alexios Ntanatsidis of Greece, the eventual bronze medallist.

 

‘’I was very nervous this morning and I didn’t feel all that great in my first two bouts,’’ said Margelidon.  ‘’I actually had an upset stomach.  I started to feel better in my third bout.  Overall I’m happy with my day, especially my first two bouts.  I’m disappointed to lose to the Greek even though he is a very good judoka.  I really enjoyed this international experience.’’

 

‘’It was a very nice performance for Arthur,’’ said Canadian coach Marie-Hélène Chisholm.  ‘’He got an unlucky draw and was forced to meet the Greek in the third round.  He is more experienced than Arthur who was in his first big international tournament. Arthur showed a great attitude, fought well and wasn’t intimidated.’’

 

Dennis opened with a victory over Wildjie Vertus of Haiti by Yuko before losing to Dilara Incedayi of Turkey, also by Yuko.  As for Raymond, he lost his only bout to Maren Leban of Cuba.

 

‘’Miguel and Kaitlyn showed they belonged,’’ said Chisholm.  ‘’Kaitlyn was making her international debut and fought well while Miguel, a tournament winner in Brazil a few weeks ago, faced a tough opponent.  He was overwhelmed in the first couple of minutes but fought back and just ran out of time. I’m satisfied with our performances today.  It was a very positive experience for these youngsters.’’

 

Competition ends Sunday.  Canadians in action are: Alix Renaud-Roy (70 kilos), Jaya Creavalle 70 kilos and over) and Andrew Balach ( 90 kilos)

 

 

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Reported by Sportcom (info@sportcom.qc.ca) for Judo Canada (www.judocanada.org).