Justin Lemire’s rise continues
The Canadian team at the World Junior Championships.
The young Rawdon athlete Justin Lemire achieved an important step in his judoka career by participating in the World Junior Championships at the beginning of October in Olbia, Italy.
Team Canada judokas faced tough opponents. Isabelle Harris first took advantage of a pass in the first round of less than 63 kg before lowering the flag by waza-ari against the Hungarian Brigitta Varga.
Justin Lemire suffered a similar fate on October 7 in the under 73 kg category. He was also defeated by waza-ari against Daniyar Shamshayez of Kazakhstan in his first fight.
“Justin made a great attack that should have been a waza-ari and I don’t understand why [ça n’a pas été le cas]. In my opinion, the fight should at least have gone to overtime. The youngster, he gave his all and he took out his arsenal and his big movements. I’m proud of him, ”commented Canadian coach Jean-Pierre Cantin of the 2018 junior Pan American champion, adding that he had followed the game plan to the letter.
Joel Demaere, meanwhile, lost his first under 60 kg fight against Georgian Shakro Shatirishvili. As for Alexandre Arencibia, who was in action in the under 90 kg category, he won his opening fight against Maksims Duinovs, but lost in a hard-fought fight against Russia’s Adam Sangariev.
Alexandria Lefort lost her first fight against Italian Martina Esposito by ippon in the under 70 kg category. Ian Ryder made his entry into the under 100kg, but was beaten in the next round as Utkirbek Turoboyev of Uzbekistan had the best of their clash with an ippon.
Finally, Coralie Godbout started the day well, convincingly beating Narmin Amirli, but was defeated in the next round by eventual gold medalist Anna Monta Olek by waza-ari.
International competition has been scarce for Canadian junior judokas over the past year and a half due to health restrictions from the pandemic. The strict rules imposed on them have not been the same in other countries and the coach admits that this absence is felt.
“The Europeans have had at least five or six tournaments (before the Worlds) and we have only had one, so it’s difficult. Athletes give their all, but to be good at competing, you have to compete. There is no secret. […] They did what they had to do, they fought hard and they have to stay positive. ”
In general, Cantin is satisfied with the performance of his troops at these World Championships, given the circumstances. He does not hide that there is still work to be done for the judokas to find their top form.
“The line was often thin between victory and loss for some of our athletes this week. Our young people are training hard and they remain motivated, we will be able to take the next step soon, ”concluded Jean-Pierre Cantin.
