Montreal, October 19, 2017 – The third round was the last round on Thursday for Canadians Jacob Valois and Marie Besson. Both judokas were halted by their third opponents of the day in their respective weight categories at the Junior World Championships in Zagreb.

Valois fought three bouts in the -66 kg weight class. After a successful match against Victor Chira Romero of Peru, he went on to beat Kyle McIndoe of Australia before bowing out to Twan Van Der Werff of the Netherlands.

Competing in the same weight division, Gabriel Juteau was eliminated in his second round. His day began well with a victory over Abderrahmane Boushita of Morocco, but he was quickly shown the door by Minoru Yamashiro of Argentina.

François Gauthier-Drapeau also saw his day come to an end after his second round, when he lost to Russia’s David Gamosov in overtime in the -73 kg division. In his previous round, the Québécois had made quick business of ousting Albania’s Luigii Vataj by scoring an ippon after only 20 seconds.

“After an easy victory in his first match, François experienced Canada’s most heart-wrenching defeat of the day, because after an excellent performance during regulation time, he was thrown for a waza-ari by his opponent who, by then, was showing signs of extreme fatigue,” said coach Jean-Pierre Cantin.

“I was sure that going into Golden Score would work to François’ advantage, since his opponent seemed barely able to stay on his feet, whereas François was still going strong,” add Cantin.

Besson Defeated by Raciu

In women’s competition, Marie Besson only made it as far as the third round, where she was eliminated by Cleonia Raciu of Romania. Having received a bye in the preliminary round, Besson defeated Mexico’s Valeria Rios in her first match.

On Wednesday, Virginia Nemeth (-48 kg) was overpowered in her first bout against Brazil’s Larissa Pimenta.

“It was a quick day for Virginia. She started out too carefully and was caught off guard by her opponent, whose attack earned her a waza-ari. Virginia put a lot of pressure on Pimenta but wasn’t able to take control of the match,” noted her coach.

On Friday, Emily Burt (-63 kg), Hanako Kuno (-63 kg), Maria Carla Chirila (-70 kg), Adriana Portuondo-Isasi (-70 kg), Alex Marineau (-81 kg), Max Côté (-81 kg), and Benjamin Kendrick (-90 kg) will hit the tatamis.

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Patrick Esparbès
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