No luck for judo Canadians at Korea Open

Canadian judokas Amy Cotton and Ontarian Nicholas Tritton place fifth Canadian judokas missed a touch of luck today in the second and final day of competition at the Korean Cup judo tournament in Jeju, South Korea. Amy Cotton from Antigonish, Nova Scotia (-78 kg) and Nicholas Tritton from Perth, Ontario (-73 kg) topped the Canuck delegation, both with a fifth place finish.

Sasha Mehmedovic from Ajax, Ontario (-66 kg) did have a good day and placed seventh while Marie-Helene Chisholm from Port-Cartier, Quebec (-63 kg), Olia Berger from Winnipeg (+78 kg) and Frazer Will from Star City, Saskatchewan (-60 kg) didn’t win a bout and weren’t ranked.

Amy Cotton first defeated Mi Sun Park from South Korea with an ippon in the opening round before dropping her second bout to Stephanie Possmai from France on an arm-lock. In the repechage round, Cotton won over Su Xia Li from China but lost her bronze medal bout to Sae Nakazawa from Japan on a yuko.

“I’m happy with my result but I’m not about some mistakes I’ve committed,” she says. “I know on which aspects I need to work on in the next few weeks including at next week’s tournament in Japan. The style of judo here in Asia is much different than what we see in Europe where I’m more comfortable.”

According to coach Nicolas Gill who’s with the team in Asia, Nicholas Tritton offered a great performance with a pair of wins before losing his two following bouts, including one against the World and Olympic defending champion, Won-Hee Lee from South Korea. “Nicholas is progressing at each tournament and he proved it again today forcing the best in his event to go to the limit,” says Gill.

Marie-Helene Chisholm only fought one bout, losing to Bok-Hee Lee from South Korea, who took part in the Olympic tournament in Athens and is now ranked fifth on the world standings. “It’s been a very short day but I came here to train. I’m preparing for the competitions in the New Year. It’s always sad to lose a bout but I promise to do better next week,” says Chisholm.

It’s been a brighter day for Sasha Mehmedovic who had a 2-2 record. No luck for Frazer Will who lost his two bouts against the eventual bronze medal winners.

Aminata Sall from Varennes, Quebec was the lone Canadian winning a medal at the Korean Cup tournament, with a silver medal performance on Friday in the 52 kg event.

Nicolas Gill and his team will take part in the Fukuoka Judo Tournament, next weekend in Japan.