Keith Morgan wins silver judo medal at German Open Hamburg

Canadian judoka Keith Morgan of Calgary won a silver medal today at the Otto World Cup in Hamburg, Germany after losing the final of the Under-90 kg event to Yuta Yazaki of Japan. Yazaki won by Ippon, 28 seconds into overtime. “I’m disappointed and frustrated,” said Morgan. “There are days when the referees work for you and others when they don’t. I should have won today.

I completed moves that should have given me points and I did not receive anything. Then I was awarded a penalty late in the bout that forced the overtime. I really should have won this one.”

Morgan won a bronze medal last weekend in Hungary. “I was only able to think that I had already won the bout. I can add that I’m not at my best these days so I was tired when the overtime began. If I look at my recent performances I still believe I’m on the right track to Athens. “

Morgan collected four victories on the road to the gold medal bout and he was particularly happy to defeat Peter Cousins of Great Britain who had defeated him at the Paris Tournament.

Catherine Roberge wins bronze

After a mediocre outing last weekend in Austria, Catherine Roberge of Quebec City had a great turnaround this weekend winning the bronze medal in Germany. Roberge won her last bout over Laeticia Moulin of France by Ippon. Roberge also defeated Amina Abdellatif of France and Catherine Jacques of Belgium, who had won the gold and bronze medals at the Paris Tournament. The Canadian lost to Andrea Pazoutova of the Czech Republic.

“I’m satisfied with my performance after winning only one bout at my first participation and two last year, I wanted to win three bouts this time,” said Roberge. “This medal is just as good as my third-place finish in Japan. It is an extremely competitive tournament and it is part of every athlete for the Olympics.”

Jean-François Marceau placed ninth in the Under-73 kg after a 2-2 record. That is still not enough to pick up a final Olympic qualifying criterion. Isabel Latulippe placed ninth in the Under-48 kg event while Michelle Buckingham (Under-57 kg) and Alex Ciupe (Under-100 kg) did not reach the standings in their events.