Canadians pick up silver, bronze medals in Boras

Emilie-Claude Leroux from Montreal won a silver medal while Justin Imagawa, from Vancouver won a bronze medal at the Swedish Junior Judo Open in Boras, Sweden. In the 70 kg event, Leroux defeated her first four opponents by ippon prior to losing the title bout to Jennyfer Arcq of Belgium. Imagawa won four of his five contests in the 73 kg event including the bronze medal bout against Corey Paquette from Montreal, who placed fifth.

“She was completely in control of her means,” says coach Jean-Pierre Cantin on Leroux’s performance. “Emilie-Claude worked very well after winning three bouts on standing ippons and a fourth one on a ground ippon. The final bout could have gone one way or the other. She remained focused all day long. We see she’s more and more comfortable in her category.”

Cantin also had good words for Imagawa. “After he lost his opening bout, Justin defeated his four next opponents. As the day went he grew more confident and won by wazari against Paquette. It’s his second tournament in Europe and he’s already got a first medal,” he says.

In the 66 kg event, Rodion Melchakov from Montreal placed fifth. In the 60 kg event, Patrick Tremblay (1-1) from Toronto and Olivier L. Masse (2-2) from Montreal were also in action.

Three more Canadians will be competing on Sunday: Maxime Tremblay (81 kg) from Jonquiere, Quebec, Robert Edward (90 kg) from Calgary and Lolita Dagher (48 kg) from Varennes, Quebec.