Montreal, February 7, 2010 – Kalem Kachur of Montreal and Kelita Zupancic of Whitby, Ont., were the top Canadians on Sunday at the tournoi de Paris Île-de-France judo tournament finishing ninth in men’s 81 kilos and women’s 70 kilos respectively. 

 

Kachur, 28,  posted a 2-1 record with victories over Mario Valles of Colombia and Robert Krawczyk of Poland, a bronze medallist at the 2003 world championships.  Kachur lost his third bout to Elkhan Rajabli of Azerbaijan, third at the 2001 worlds.

 

‘’I fought well especially against my Polish opponent,’’ said Kachur.  ‘’I knew it wouldn’t be easy because I fought against him last month at a training camp in Japan.  I controlled him well with my grip and I made a very good attack.  I wouldn’t say I’m surprised because I knew I could beat him.  Overall I’m very satisfied.’’

 

Kachur scored at the halfway mark and kept his opponent at bay for the rest of the bout.  ‘’I had to stay in control and it wasn’t an easy victory.’’

 

He was more on the defensive in his final bout.

 

‘’It didn’t go as I planned,’’ he said.  ‘’He stepped on my foot at the start and threw a series of combinations.  That put a lot of pressure on me and I wasn’t able to recover.’

 

Also in men’s 81 kilos, which featured one of the strongest fields this weekend, Guillaume Perreault of Boucherville, Que., lost his opening bout to Arsen Pshmakhov of Russia.  In men’s 90 kilos, Alexandre Émond of Varennes, Que., received a first round bye then fell to Dmitry Gerasimenko of Russia.

 

In women’s 70 kilos, Zupancic was 1-1 opening with a victory by Ippon over Elina Paulman of Finland before losing to world number-five Ye-Sui Hwang of South Korea.

  

 

 

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