Judo Canada – Montreal, December 9, 2017 – Quebec’s Gabriel Juteau climbed onto the third step of the podium on Saturday at the Asian Open in Hong Kong. Competing in the -66 kg category, the judoka from Longueuil secured his first international medal at the senior level.

The 20-year-old’s only loss of the day came at the hands of Japan’s Kohei Tomizuka during the semi-final. In his battle for bronze, Juteau defeated Lukasz Kielbasinski of Poland.

Earlier in the day, he had eliminated Chui Chun Sing of Hong Kong and Yang Chun-Ting of Taiwan.

“Gabriel fought very well,” stated national team coach Jean-Pierre Cantin. “It’s a nice way for him to end his trip after training in Japan for two weeks.” 

Also competing in the -66 kg category was Julien Frascadore, who came close to joining his teammate on the third step of the podium but was beaten in his bronze medal match by South Korea’s Jin-Min Jang. Frascadore finished in fifth place.

The 18-year-old had previously enjoyed a three-match winning streak before bowing out to Japan’s Rai Hasegawa in the semi-final.

In the same weight category, Jacob Valois was eliminated at his first fight.

Fifth Spot for Côté and Morgan

Maxim Côté (-81 kg) and Erin Morgan (-48 kg) fought for bronze medals in their respective categories but both had to settle for fifth place.

After receiving a bye in the first round, Côté dispatched of Kohei Kohagura of the Philippines before losing to Jaehyung Lee of South Korea in the third round. The judoka from Sept-Îles made a short comeback in the repechage, where he beat Romania’s Vlad Visan by ippon, before he faced off against Australia’s Eoin Coughlan, who barred his way to the podium.

Alex Marineau, who also competed in the -81 kg group, placed seventh. Alexandre Arencibia and François Gauthier-Drapeau did not make it past the first round and did not rank.

Despite losing to Indonesia’s Dewi Sinta in her first -48 kg fight, Erin Morgan performed well in the repechage, where she ousted Taiwan’s Lin Chen-Hao. In her bronze medal match, she was overpowered by Japan’s Narumi Watanabe.

Competing in the -60 kg and -73 kg categories respectively, Benjamin Daviau and Warren Seib both placed ninth.

Joel Demaere (-60 kg) and Camélia Pitsilis (-57 kg) did not rank.

The Hong Kong Asian Open will continue on Sunday. Louis Krieber-Gagnon (-90 kg), Benjamin Kendrick (-90 kg), Mohab El Nahas (-90 kg), Marc Deschênes (+100 kg), and Joe Casey Andres (+100 kg) will be the Canadians to watch.

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Information :
Patrick Esparbès
Chief Operating Officer
(514) 668-6279
p.esparbes@judocanada.org