Montréal, August 13th, 2025 – Opening with a 2-0 deficit before even stepping onto the mat, the Canadian judo team lost 4-2 in the bronze medal match of the mixed team event on Wednesday at the Junior Pan American Games in Asunción, Paraguay.
An injury sustained by John Jr Messe A Bessong during his individual tournament on Tuesday and the absence of a male competitor in the under-73 kg category complicated things greatly for the Canadians in the team competition.
The maple leaf squad comprised of Carla Van Zyl (-57 kg), Charlie Thibault (-70 kg), Arthur Karpukov (-81 kg) and Alisa Kofman (+70 kg) had to start each of their fights with 2-0 deficits due to forfeits. However, they still reached one of the bronze medal matches, where they faced the United States.
The Canadian judokas even managed to secure the first two victories of the duel to tie things up, as Van Zyl won by ippon against Nicole Cancela and Thibault bested Shavon Gonzalez by yuko in a bout that lasted nearly nine minutes.
“All the athletes gave their 100%. Carla gave us confidence right from the outset, and Charlie was able to seize an important victory,” stated coach Antoine Bouchard as the day drew to a close.
However, two consecutive defeats relegated the Canadian team to fifth place. Arthur Karpukov first lost by yuko at the very end of his encounter with Daniel Shulgin.
“Both athletes had some great opportunities to land throws, but Arthur fell a little more to the side during one of the American’s projections, who scored on the sequence. I think Arthur had several good chances, including two throws that were reviewed by the referees, so you could say it was an extremely close fight,” analyzed Bouchard.
Ultimately, Alisa Kofman suffered defeat by ippon against Rhadi Ferguson, which sealed the outcome of the confrontation between the two nations.
“The athletes can be proud of themselves because they never gave up despite the deficits they had to overcome. They gave it their all on the mat, and we came very close to leaving here with another medal,” commented Bouchard about his team, which first defeated Peru before losing to Cuba in the semi-finals.
Now that judo competitions have come to an end at the Junior Pan American Games, the Canadian team will return home with one silver medal, won by Arthur Karpukov in the under-81 kg weight class, and three bronze medals.
“It was their first international competition, and I think they have a better idea of what to expect going forward. Everyone can come away from this with some positive, at least I hope so!” concluded Bouchard.
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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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Patrick Esparbès
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p.esparbes@judocanada.org