Two of the four Canadians who fought at the Zagreb Judo Grand Prix had their journeys cut short following a loss to an eventual silver medalist this weekend in Croatia.
On Saturday, in the under 73 kg draw, Quebec’s Yanis Hachemi scored a waza-ari victory over Italy’s Edoardo Mella after taking advantage of a first-round bye. In the second round, he lost by ippon against the Algerian Messaoud Redouane Dris who will end the day on the second step of the podium following his defeat in the final against the Spaniard Jorge Cano Garcia.
Ontario judoka Mohab ElNahas, who has become the spokesperson for the Canadian team, commented on the performance of his 21-year-old teammate who could well have emerged victorious in this confrontation.
“Yanis was winning and then he got knocked down in the last 10 seconds. The Algerian he was about to beat was the strongest in the category, as he beat Olympians in the table. »
On Sunday, in the under 90 kg category, it was El Nahas’ turn to see his journey stopped by a future silver medalist.
El Nahas won his fight against Ukrainian Artem Bubyr by forfeit only to be defeated by Turkish Mihael Zgank who won after the Ontarian received three penalties.
“[Zgank] is my friend. We have faced each other a lot in preparatory camps and I know very well how he fights. I felt stronger than him and physically I had no problem having my grip on him. On the other hand, he had his technique on the ground where he placed himself on his back and each time, I did not have time to attack. I’m a little frustrated, because I found that I was the strongest. »
The Turk repeated the same trick in each round and it was his opponents who were penalized for non-competitiveness.
“He didn’t show the tournament, but it worked for him and he was lucky this time around,” added the 27-year-old Canadian, who will leave Croatia with a bittersweet feeling. “I was able to test my form against him [Zgank] who is in the top 10 in the world and next time I just have to attack first and I really think I can beat him. »
Zgank continued his journey to the final where he ended his day with a silver medal after losing to Hungarian Krisztian Toth.
Also in -90 kg, Ontarian Keagan Young was defeated in the first round by Dutchman Tigo Renes.
“He fought well and he made a waza-ari in the first exchange of the fight. His opponent was a head taller than me and then he scored two waza-ari against Keagan. Then he [Renes] was very defensive and he took advantage of that,” ElNahas argued.
Finally, in the under 81 kg category, Quebecer David Popovici bowed out in his first fight against Serbian Andrey Pirolo Del Rosso.
El Nahas will head to Portugal to take part in a European Tour tournament, while his three teammates will be back home.
