Day 2 Recap From Canada Winter Games

Day 2 of competition started off with a number of quick matches.  Lochlan Young of BC threw Geoffrey Woodford of PEI in the first 15 seconds of the match.  In the next match Loc Cassista of NB counters Connor Steele of NS also in the first 15 seconds which resulted in an injury when Connor reached out with his hand.  On the women’s side, Caleigh Kuramoto BC threw Hailey Peddle NS in the first 10 seconds and a few bouts later Samia Boussarhane QC threw Shannon Caines NS for the ippon win in the first 10 seconds.  Experience was a key factor in each of these matches. As the day progressed the matches became longer as many of the experienced competitors were more tactical in their matches and used deliberate gripping strategies to make more effective attacks or force their opponents to take penalties.

In the -57 kg female division, Kiera Westlake methodically controlled the match and won over Caleigh Kuramoto by penalties.  Sarah Ekosky of Manitoba won the bronze medal over Anne-Clara Guerin of Quebec and Alyssandra Manuel of Ontario captured the second bronze medal by defeating Elysia Kehrig of Saskatchewan.

In the -63 kg division Isabelle Harris of BC threw Sierra Tanner of Nova Scotia for a half point and managed to keep the lead till time ran out for Sierra.  The bronze medal went to Ilhem Boussarhane of Quebec who countered Rachel Krapman of Ontario. In the other bronze medal match, Teyana Roberts of Alberta beat out teammate Greta Goasdoue-Wallace.

The -70kg division was run as two pools and in the semi finals Brae Booth of BC won over Keeley Hussey of New Brunswick.  While Bailey Doerfler lost to Ilhem Ouali of Quebec.

Hussey and Doerfler received bronze medals while Booth and Ouali proceeded to the finals.  In the finals it would be Brae Booth who came out on top with the gold. “It was harder than the first match I had with her in the pool round.” said Booth.  “I just had to take my time and wait for the right moment.”

In +70kg female division Coralie Godbout of Quebec won the gold over Samantha Ulrich of Manitoba.  The bronze medal went to Emma Mullett of Newfoundland who beat out fellow Newfoundlander Natalie Freake.  Janessa Keays also took home a bronze medal by beating out Emilie Townsend of Nova Scotia.

On the men’s side, in the -73 kg division, Nick Gagnon lost to Victor Gougeon-Gaz by two half points.  Both scores were from identical throws that Nick tried to walk over and got caught. The gold medal went to Victor and Nick had to settle for the silver.  The bronze medals in this division went to Lochlan Young of BC and Justin Ekosky of Manitoba.

The -81 kg division saw Payton Harris of BC squared off with Alexandre Arencibia of Quebec. Alexandre managed to score a half point by throwing Payton and follows up with a tight hold down to win the gold medal.  The bronze medal matches saw Taylor Althouse win over Nicholas Langlois and Michael Akbashev won over Samuel Nadeau.

The +81 kg had an exciting final match of the day.  Ian Ryder of BC threw Martin Penchev of Quebec and although the referee called it a full point, it was downgraded to a half point.  Ian threw Penchev a second time to score the win by a full point. In the bronze medal match, Sasha Tanasiuk of Alberta surprises Owen Macumber of Ontario and chokes him out before he has a chance to tap out.  In the other match, Wilson Elliot of the Northwest Territories throws Ijob Hamraev of Manitoba to score the win and the bronze medal.