Montréal, July 6, 2025 – John Jr Messé A Bessong showcased the full extent of his talent at the Junior European Cup in Prague, Czech Republic, on Sunday, in his first continental competition since November 2024. And although the Québécois was defeated in the quarter-finals by the future gold medallist, he kept his chin up, ultimately claiming the third spot on the podium in the over-100 kg weight category.
In the bronze medal final, Messé A Bessong ousted Brazil’s Andrey Coelho, an opponent he has faced on multiple occasions in the past. After scoring a waza-ari early in the match, the Canadian succeeded in containing Coelho’s attacks throughout regulation time to capture the bronze medal.
“I’m really happy with my result. It feels great to win a bronze medal in a competition against the best junior athletes in the world, especially after such a long absence. I was a bit apprehensive about fighting Coelho. I didn’t want to push too hard too quickly. So I tried a more technical approach, and it worked,” said Messé A Bessong.
Messé A Bessong defeated Martin Truhlar of the Czech Republic in his first bout of the day, before bowing out to Giorgi Baduashvili of Georgia. In the repechage, the 20-year-old kept pushing forward, eliminating Sherkhan Alpanov of Kazakhstan in just over a minute.
“I wanted to quickly put the loss behind me and go into the repechage as though it were a brand new day. I focused on the bronze medal as though it were gold, and it all worked out.”
Messé A Bessong’s next opponent, Minjun Kim of South Korea, withdrew from the match due to an injury in his previous bout, so Messé A Bessong advanced straight to the bronze medal final.
Also in the men’s tournament, Artem Neyolov (-81 kg) ousted Evan Miller of the USA in his first bout of the day. However, he lost his subsequent match and was unable to bounce back in the repechage.
Yehor Paladii (-100 kg) lost both his fights today.
On the women’s side, Carla Van Zyl (-57 kg) also advanced to the bronze medal final in her weight class. In that match, the British Columbian, who this year is now officially competing as a junior, bowed out to Jevgenija Gajic of Slovenia and finished fifth.
“As far as final matches go, it was a bit of a let-down. I wanted to leave everything on the tatamis and win a medal, but things didn’t go my way. So I’m going to keep working hard, especially on being able to adapt during fights. I know I could win medals, and my goal is to do so,” said Van Zyl.
Van Zyl’s day began with two decisive victories over Marlene Schinwald of Austria and Raykhona Mamatova of Uzbekistan. In the semi-final, however, she bowed out to Japan’s Asuka Ueno, who later won the gold medal.
“As the day got off to a start, I felt ready and well-prepared, and my first two matches went really well. But I knew Ueno would be tough to beat. She’s very, very strong. I made a few good moves, but she caught me off guard and finished the job.”
In the same weight division as Van Zyl, Laurence Gagnon ended the day with a record of two wins and two losses, while in the under-48 kg group, Ekaterina Danilkov lost her two only fights of the day.
The Canadians who competed in Prague this weekend will spend the next few days in training camp, preparing for the Paks European Cup in Hungary next weekend.
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Patrick Esparbès
Chief Operating Officer
Judo Canada
(514) 668-6279
p.esparbes@judocanada.org