Montréal, June 16, 2024 – This weekend, Canada was represented by five judokas at the European Cup in Podčetrtek, Slovenia. Mohab ElNahas obtained the country’s best result, finishing fifth in the under-90 kg weight category.

In the bronze medal final, the 28-year-old veteran kept up the good fight until the very end, but was defeated by waza-ari by Radomir Musil of the Czech Republic. “I’m feeling a bit disappointed right now, because I just lost the bronze medal,” said the Ontarian. “I found the refereeing a bit strange. They didn’t give out any shidos, and I lost twice because of that. It’s very frustrating, although I also think it’s forcing me to improve. I made some good throws today, and I fought six bouts, so I’m happy with my performance, although I’m disappointed with the outcome.”

On Saturday, in the women’s under-63 kg division, Laurence Biron had the Canadian team’s second-highest result. She advanced all the way to the quarter-finals, where she lost by ippon to Germany’s Sara-Joy Bauer, who finished fifth in the category.

“[Laurence] fought very well, despite having a minor hip injury. She considered dropping out in the middle of the tournament, but she kept on pushing forward and continued to fight,” said ElNahas, spokesperson for the Canadian team.

In the under-73 kg category, Olivier Gagnon did not rank. He began his day with a victory by waza-ari over Kai Lippmann of Germany. Next, he defeated Tristan Dufourt of France by ippon, before losing to Serhii Nebotov of Ukraine, who later won a bronze medal.

On Sunday, David Popovici won his first-round match against Karel Platos of the Czech Republic by waza-ari. He then defeated Miklos Zelcsenyi of the Ukraine before bowing out to Mariyan Pavel of Bulgaria.

“It was a tight match. Just as David was coming up with a solution, his opponent made an unexpected throw.”

His teammate Tyler Collin did not win any of his bouts on Saturday. However, the 21-year-old judoka obtained a spot in the repechage, where he lost to Norway’s Egilsten Amarasekara by waza-ari.

“I really think we’re improving. Compared to our results in Madrid, we did a lot better. We’re on the right track, and we know what we need to work on to win medals,” concluded ElNahas.

Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada

For more information:

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