Isabel Latulippe wins judo bronze in Sofia

Canadian judoka Isabel Latulippe (St. Hubert, QC) won a bronze medal today in the under-48 kg event at the Judo World Cup tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria. This good news did not come alone since this result qualified her for the 2005 Judo World Championships in Cairo, Egypt, in September.

“My objective was to place in the top five to obtain my “B” standard but with this third place, I get a "A" standard and I will automatically qualify for the Worlds. Now I won’t have this pressure anymore!”

In her first bouts, the 21-year-old defeated French and Belgian opponents by ippon. Then Latulippe lost to Romanian Alina Dumitru, who placed fifth at the Athens Olympics.

In the repechage round, the Canadian defeated Japan’s Shoko Ibe by ippon to capture the bronze medal with just under a minute to go in the bout.

“She repeated what she did two years ago when she won the U.S. Open,” explained coach Frederic Fereal, who was visibly satisfied of her work day. “She was fit and the mental followed so the result was good. The Romanian against whom she lost was strong and powerful. Isabel will now have to work more often against that style of athlete. Her bout lasted three minutes so she had more time to try out certain things she couldn’t in the last tournament. It was a very positive bout.”

“The tournaments and training camps in Asia last month really made a difference,” said Latulippe. “I was able to practice different styles of judo. Now that I know I’m going to the World Championships, I will have to look more attentively at my opponents.”

Sunday, Amy Cotton (Antigonish, NS) will be in action in the Under-78 kg event.

Turcotte and McAlpine lead Canada in Belgium
On the men’s side, Gervais Turcotte (Baie St. Paul, QC) won three of his five bouts and placed ninth in the Under-90 kg event at the Vise Open in Belgium. Trevor McAlpine evenly split his four bouts in the Over-100 kg competition, which also led him to a ninth place finish. Gonzalo Ibanez had two wins and two losses while Frazer Will (Star City, SK) won a bout and lost the other in the Under-60 kg event. Guillaume Cavalli had a 1-1 record in the Under-90 kg tournament.

“I had a great start winning my first three bouts,” said Turcotte who defeated a Frenchman, a British and an Austrian.

It’s the victory over Winston Gordon of Great Britain, fifth at the Athens Olympics, which impressed Turcotte the most. “I won by ippon so there was no doubt about it and I was very very happy,” said the mechanic engineering student at Montreal’s École Polytechnique.

After defeating his Austrian opponent, Turcotte lost to Bachmann from Germany who went on to win the gold medal. “We fought to the time limit but he was very strong defensively which gave me much trouble. I wasn’t able to dominate or to position myself properly,” concluded Turcotte. He lost his final bout to Takesawa, a left handed Japanese.

“We did not have the top athletes from every country at this tournament but many athletes were well ranked. The French for instance have much depth and there’s little difference for them between the second and the fifth best judoka,” said Nicolas Gill who’s now a full time coach for Canada. “It’s a good tournament for young athletes since they can compete for the whole day.”

Michal Popiel (Under-66 kg), Kalem Kachur (Under-81 kg) and Alexandru Ciupe (Under-100 kg) will be in action on Sunday.

Two junior medals for Canada in Belgium
Finally, 13 Canadian junior women athletes were in action at the EJU “B” Tournament in Arlon, Belgium. Gennie Bonsant (Under-63 kg) and Andree Bijould (Under-78 kg) both won bronze medals.

“I’ve been at this tournament for the last five years and it’s the first time I see my junior athletes win medals,” said coach Jean-Pierre Cantin.

Bonsant won five of her six bouts while Bijould concluded the event with four wins and two losses.

Lolita Dagher also did great with her fifth place finish in the Under-48 kg event with four victories in six bouts.