Montréal, August 29, 2025 – Lowan Le Bris took fifth place in the Under 73 kg category Friday, at the World Championship for Cadets, taking place in Sofia, Bulgaria. Le Bris ended his day with the same ranking as teammate Anes Mati, who achieved the same feat in the Under 66 kg yesterday.
The British Columbian lost by ippon in the bronze medal match to Georgian judoka Vasil Gamezardashivili.
“It was a very close bout, and Lowan could have won it, but unfortunately he was defeated in the last few seconds. He clearly has the skills to make it to the podium in this type of event,” said Coach Ewan Beaton. “He can absolutely be proud of what he accomplished today.”
Early on in the competition, Le Bris could boast a string of defeated judokas in his wake: Dalaitseren Batbuyan of Mongolia, Stiliyan Babachev of Bulgaria, and Sadulla Ravshanov of Uzbekistan. However, the Canadian then lost to Serbia’s Veljko Varnicic in the semifinals, before facing defeat in the bronze medal match.
“His first three fights were perfect: he managed to defeat his opponents in less than a minute,” noted Beaton.
In the Under 81 kg category, Tristan Bourque won his first fight against Anas Bouqammaz of Kuwait. Yet the tide turned after that, and in the next round, he lost to neutral athlete Romazan Khidirov.
“He was very cautious on the tatami in his first bout, and that allowed him to win. Unfortunately, his opponent got the better of him in the fight after that,” explained his coach.
In women’s judo action, Maia Thomson (-63 kg) won her first bouts against Brazil’s Anna Julia Sperling and Israel’s Mai Yermiahu. She then suffered defeat at the hands of Georgia’s Nana Gulbiani, and was bested in the repechage by France’s Chloé Jean.
“She was very good today, and overall she does excellent judo. Unlike the more physical European style, Maia has a more classic style of judo, and unfortunately, that hurt her in her other matches,” explained Beaton.
In the same category as Thomson, Victoria Summers suffered defeat in her first bout against Puerto Rico’s Indy Arizmendi Nguyen.
Also in action on Friday, Myroslava Bondarenko (-57 kg) lost her first bout to Uzbekistan’s Gulsanam Khazratova.
Watch for more cadet judo excitement tomorrow from Sofia, Saturday, as Canadians Matthew Molchanov (-90 kg), Arthur Stivenson (+90 kg), Franck David Moussima Ewane Elouti (+90 kg), Missy Jen Dorval Mbele (-70 kg), Charlie Thibault (-70 kg), Emiliya Aliyeva (+70 kg) and Abigail Smith (+70 kg) all step on to the tatami to test their skills.
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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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