Kherlen Ganbold wins fourth major title

Ganbold Kherlen of Mongolia won his third Grand Prix. In the final U66kg at the Grand Prix in Montreal Ganbold was opposed to Kenneth Van Gansbeke of Belgium, who so far had no record on the international scene.

After four minutes of regular time, both athletes had only one shido each to their name and as they entered the golden score, there were still trying to find the slightest opportunity to score. After more than 4 minutes and a half, Van Gansbeke was finally penalized a third time offering his third gold medal in a Grand Prix to 2017 World Master champion Ganbold.

The first bronze medal contest opposed Jacob Valois (CAN), bronze medallist at the 2019 Pan-American championships, and Nathan Katz of Australia. Competing at home has always been an advantage, and for sure the support of the Canadian public definitely helped Valois to win the first medal for the host country of the Montréal Grand Prix. Even if the whole match was a bit confused, Jacob Valois could score a waza-ari with a tomoe-nage, enough for the public to explode with joy and properly celebrate their new medallist.

In the second bronze medal contest the 2019 African Championships silver medallist, Imad Bassou (MAR) was opposed to Nathon Burns (IRL), who finished seventh at the last European Games. For his first appearance on the scene of a World Judo Tour event, BURNS scored a beautiful Ippon on a shoulder movement, precisely on the final gong to win his first Grand Prix medal.