Montréal, July 13, 2025 – Yehor Paladii earned the best result from among Team Canada’s judokas on the second day of judo action at the Junior European Cup in Paks, Hungary. Competing in the Under 100kg class, Paladii finished in fifth place, after having posted two wins and two losses.
In the bronze medal round, the Canadian had his first bout against Serbian Lazar Zdrale – the athlete who had won a gold medal one week earlier in Prague. Sadly, Paladii lost the bout when Zdrale scored an ippon.
“We knew that Yehor’s opponent was excellent, and that it would be a tricky match. The Serbian started off with a different style than what we expected, so our game plan wasn’t the best fit. Nevertheless, for an athlete like Yehor who’s just getting started in the Under 100kg class, it was an encouraging day,” shared Canadian coach Sasha Mehmedovic.
Paladii’s day began with two victories: one against Hungary’s Miron Toth and another against Italy’s Davide Graziosi. The Canadian then lost to neutral-athlete Anton Fedin in the semi-finals, where he ended up earning a berth for a bronze-medal fight in the process.
In the Under 81kg class, Artem Neyolov also had a busy day, competing in six bouts on the tatami. After three early victories, Neyolov was forced out of the quarter-finals by Mihaljo Simin, who would go on to become the day’s gold medallist.
Yet the Canadian didn’t give up and had a strong bout in the repechage, where he got the better of Britain’s Isaac Hope, before losing in the next round to neutral athlete Akhmed Turluev. Neyolov concluded the competition in seventh place.
“It was a pretty good day for Artem, even if he didn’t finish on the podium. He was able to pick up the pace quickly, and he did a good job sticking to the game plan we came up with. In the end, he lost to two medallists! We saw a lot of good things today that we’ll continue to work on,” noted Mehmedovic.
John Jr Messé A Bessong decided not to take part in the European Junior Cup in Paks, due to an injury incurred at training camp earlier this week.
Carla Van Zyl earned fifth last week in Prague, but had a difficult start on Sunday in Paks. She lost her first bout to Lithuania’s Varvara Kuchar, who went on to win the gold medal.
In the repechage, Van Zyl was able to bounce back, and won three matches in a row before facing Uzbek judoka Raykhon Mamatova, against whom she eventually lost. The British-Colombian ended her day in seventh place.
“It’s a long road to the bronze medal rounds when you start your day with an early defeat. The bouts went by quickly, and Carla managed everything very well. In fact, she dominated in all three of her victories, and I think she was surprised by the Uzbek in her last match,” analysed the Canadian coach.
In the same category as Van Zyl, Laurence Gagnon was halted after a single duel, as was Ekaterina Danilkov in the Under 48kg class.
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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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