Outlasting The Competition

It’s seldom that you hear anyone talking about the sport of Judo, but if you look around your community, you won’t have to go far to find a club to compete in.

We are hearing that there were five (5) Canadians were in action on Thursday at the Cadet World Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan. 

Among them was Emilija Ema Tesanovic, who saw her day come to an end in the second round by the eventual bronze medallist.

Assunta Scutto, from Italy, eliminated the Canadian in the -48 kg category. She offered a good performance, but couldn’t continue, while Scutto ended on the third step of the podium. 

Tesanovic had started her day off by facing Myrzaiyn Duishonbekova, from Kyrgystan, a fight during which she stood out early and won.

Coach Ewan Beaton mentioned “She had a brilliant first match, easily catching her opponent on the ground and in her second match against the Italian she scored early with a waza-ari, and dominated the whole match.”

Beaton continued “The match had to be stopped for a moment because one of the contestants was bleeding. The Italian took advantage of the pause to calm down and refocus, allowing her to score when the fight started again. “It was very unfortunate, because she only lost one exchange.”

Beaton continued to mention “She had a good performance and pushed one of the best in the world to the brink. She was very close to being in the top seven, but one mistake at this level can change the match quickly.”

Fighting in the same category, Tami Goto was defeated by Dillola Dihkanboyeya, from Uzbekistan. Her coach explained she was in control for most of the fight, but couldn’t catch up after her opponent took the upper hand.

On the boy’s team, Daniel McCristall lost in the first round in -60 kg against Georgios Balarjishvili, from Cyprus.

The Canadian started off strong, but his opponent took advantage of an opportunity to score an ippon and eliminate him from the tournament.

In the same category, Braden Dixon had a similar path. He was defeated by German Nicolas Kunze.

Finally, Finn Schroeder (-66 kg) was eliminated by David Dyshel, from Israel. 

The result was decided in the last moments. Schroeder was able to gain the upper hand with less than a minute on the clock, but Dyshel sent the bout into overtime in the last seconds and won a few moments later.

On Friday, Kiera Westlake (-57 kg) and Eibhleann Alexander (-57 kg) will be in action, as well as Jordann Warner (-63 kg), Emma Caldwell (-63 kg) and Payton Harris (-81 kg).