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 World Cup - Tritton wins silver and Mehmedovic takes bronze
Montreal, September 19, 2009 (Sportcom) – Nicholas Tritton of Perth, Ont., and Sasha Mehmedovic of North York, Ont., won silver and bronze medals respectively on Saturday at a World Cup judo competition in Birmingham, England.
In men’s 73 kilos, Tritton opened with victories over Eetu Laamanen of Finland, Guido Carnebianca of Italy and Vladimir Oleinic of Portugal. In the semifinal he defeated Laurent Meseguer of France then lost the final by Ippon to Guillaume Chaine, also of France, about a minute into the bout.
In men’s 66 kilos, Mehmedovic eliminated Georg Reiter of Austria and Damian Waser of Italy. He lost to David Larose of France, the eventual champion, in the semifinal then defeated Colin Oates of Britain in his bronze medal bout.
While he was pleased with Tritton’s performance, Canadian coach Sergio Pessoa believes he could have won gold.
‘’Nicolas had a good tournament and beat high level athletes,’’ said Pessoa. ‘’In the final he wasn’t able to block an attack. I was hoping for a little bit more because he was having such a good tournament but it didn’t work. Chaine was moving a lot and he couldn’t stop him.’’
It was a special medal for Mehmedovic who was returning to action for the first time in six months after undergoing surgery on his right knee.
‘’He was very motivated to compete again,’’ said Pessoa, adding that Mehmedovic started training two months ago. ‘’In the semifinal he made an error and was pinned in the second minute.’’
Jolianne Melançon was the top Canadian in women’s competition placing fifth in 57 kilos. She lost her bronze medal bout to Rafaela Silva of Brazil.
All the other Canadian entries lost their opening bouts and were eliminated. They were for the men: Joel Benoit in 66 kilos, Jean-Philippe Gagnon, Scott McGrandle and Chris Sibbald in 73 kilos and Frazer Will in 60 kilos. For the women: Maude-Hélène Benoit in 63 kilos, Ariane Bijould and Stéphanie Tremblay in 57 kilos, Bianca Ockedahl in 48 kilos, and Ève-Renaud-Roy and Laurie Wiltshire in 52 kilos.
Canadians in action on Sunday are for the men: Guillaume Cavalli in 100 kilos, Alexandre Émond in 90 kilos, Andrew Goulet in 100 kilos and over and Kalem Kachur and Guillaume Perrault in 81 kilos. For the women: Amy Cotton in 78 kilos, Marylise Lévesque and Kelita Zupancic in 70 kilos and Catherine Roberge in 78 kilos.
‘’Amy and Catherine have a good draw and we hope they’ll go deep into the tournament,’’ said Pessoa. ‘’For Marylise this will be her first competition at 70 kilos. She was previously at 78 kilos.’’
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Reported by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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