Montréal, August 31, 2025 – Canadian athletes may not have triumphed in the team event at the Cadet World Championships, but they gave it their all on the mats on Sunday in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Facing Brazil in the first round, Canada had only five representatives for this team competition, which meant the country had to forfeit the first match to its opponents.
Amir Temirbaev (-60 kg), Maia Thomson (-63 kg) and Tristan Bourque (-81 kg) were then unable to win their respective bouts, despite producing some excellent moments throughout.
Temirbaev first succombed to Lucas Yamamoto at the end of regulation time. The Brazilian took the lead with a yuko and was able to hold on until the very end of the fight.
“Amir fought extremely well. His opponent scored early in the encounter, but Amir was able to accentuate the pressure to tire him out. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough,” commented Canadian coach Ewan Beaton.
Maia Thomson then faced Laryssa Fonseca in a match that required overtime. Once again, the Brazilian representative came out on top with a yuko.
“Her fight was extremely difficult, and her opponent managed to control the first half of the bout. Similar to Amir, Maia wore down her adversary to gain the upper hand, but the Brazilian was able to counter one of her attacks to secure the victory in extra time.”
In the Canadian team’s third bout, Tristan Bourque also pushed his opponent Ruan Vasconcelos to the limit of regulation time, losing by a score of three yukos to one.
“It was an extremely physical fight. The Brazilian scored first, but Tristan managed to equalize with two minutes remaining. However, his opponent regained the lead with about 20 seconds left, and Tristan took a gamble to tie things up, but ended up conceding another score. It was a necessary risk,” admitted the coach.
Canada will leave Sofia with one medal, won by Charlie Thibault in the under-70 kg category on Saturday, and fifth-place finishes for Lowan Le Bris (-73 kg) and Anes Mati (-66 kg).
“We can be proud of our cadet world champions. Win or lose, the vast majority of our athletes demonstrated outstanding qualities and tremendous sportsmanship. I’m extremely proud of our rising stars who competed here in Bulgaria,” added Beaton.
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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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