Marie-Helene Chisholm wins judo gold in Belgium

Marie-Helene Chisholm won six straight bouts today to capture the gold medal in the Under-63 kg event at the EJU “B” tournament in Arlon, Belgium. The Port-Cartier, Quebec native defeated a German, a British, another German, a French and a third German on her way to the final.

In the title bout, Chisholm defeated Sarah Clarke from Great Britain on their first encounter.

“I knew that she was left handed and I did well,” said Chisholm. “I was a bit stronger than her and I forced her to take a penalty in the third minute. After that I scored a yuko and that’s how the bout ended. As for my other bouts, I wasn’t too fast in the opening minutes but I caught up and won them all by ippon.”

Chisholm preferred to compete in Belgium rather than face stronger opposition at the World Cup event in Bulgaria since she already has qualified for the World Championships. “I wanted the opportunity to have more bouts to prepare better for the Paris tournament next weekend. This was my first event since the Olympic Games in Athens. I still have work to do for sure but I’m in a development phase leading to the World Championships. I’m happy with what I’ve done today since I had a few concerns.”

Other Canadians were in action. Aminata Sall (Under-52 kg) had a 3-1 record while Kimi Suda (Under-52 kg) lost her three bouts. Maryse Guilbault (Under-58 kg) won one and lost her other bout. Isabelle Pearson (Under-63 kg) and Marylise Levesque (Under-78 kg) each had a 2-2 record while Olia Berger (Over-78 kg) won one of her three bouts.

Ciupe places ninth at the Vise Open
Elsewhere in Belgium, Alexandru Ciupe (Under-100 kg) won two out of four bouts and led the Canadians with a ninth place finish at the Vise Open. In his second bout, the Montreal native lost to a Japanese who went on to win the event. Michal Popiel (Under-66 kg) and Kalem Kachur (Under-81 kg) respectively ended their work day with 1-1 and 0-1 records.

“Some did well while others didn’t,” said coach Nicolas Gill on the weekend’s event. “For the younger ones, this tournament has been a great experience but the older ones were resuming action in many cases so it is normal they weren’t at their best. This was the first of a series of competitions so all things will go better next week.”

Gill forecasts that next week’s Super World Cup will be a good preview of the coming Olympic tournament.

“It’s the biggest tournament after the Olympic Games and the World Championships. In this post-Olympic year, athletes will see who’s moving to a different weight category, who has retired and who is beginning to break through,” Gill said.