Montreal, October 21, 2012 – Sarah-Myriam Mazouz earned the best Canadian result at the European Judo Cup taking place this weekend in Belgrade, Serbia; she was competing in the Under 70kg.

Mazouz began her day with a victory by Ippon over Serbia’s Ana Tuba, but then experienced a succession of setbacks.  The Quebecoise was first dispatched by Switzerland’s Desiree Gabriel, then fell to Italy’s Marisa Celletti – both of whom would later earn themselves bronze medals.

“Sarah fought well today,” commented Team Canada Coach Sergio Pessoa.  “She managed her match against the Swiss athlete well, was in control and led with a waza-ari with only seconds left in the bout.  Nevertheless, she made a few mistakes at the end that cost her the win.  It must be noted that Sarah’s only been a judoka for a mere three years.  She still has things to learn, and she needs more in-competition experience to avoid some pitfalls.”

Aside from Mazouz’s finish, it was a tough weekend in Belgrade for Team Canada.

Quebec’s Simon Ashwood-Smith (Under 73 kg), Charles Breton-Leduc (Under 60 kg) and  Vincent Marticotte (Under 73 kg) all achieved one win and one loss, shutting them out of final rankings.

Ontario’s Jonah Burt (Under 90 kg), Zachary Burt (Under 81 kg) and John Alex Nagy (Under 73 kg) were eliminated after their first matches.  Quebec’s Gabrielle Desforges (Under 63 kg) lost both bouts on the tatami, and like her teammates was unable to earn to final ranking.

“We were hoping for better results this weekend, but we knew it would be difficult to win a medal, since our athletes today are all young and in development.  Our goal was instead to ensure that they were able to compete in three to four matches, and reach fifth or seventh place in the end.  Sadly, we didn’t meet those expectations,” explained Pessoa. 

Pessoa continued with a more nuanced analysis of Team Canada’s performance.  “It must be said that we also weren’t very lucky, the athletes we lost against were highly skilled, and yet even they weren’t able to reach the semi-finals.  In such an event, our judokas would have been able to fight in overtime matches.  On the other hand we shouldn’t count on our adversaries’ performance to advance our own standings; our athletes have to do the work themselves.”

Canada’s judokas will have another chance next weekend in Boras, in Sweden, where the next leg in the European Judo Cup will take place.   “As in Belgrade, the level of competition won’t be excessively high, but different competitors will be there – more French and German judokas.  It will be a great opportunity for our athletes to experience different competitive styles, concluded Pessoa.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada