Julien Frascadore had a great run at the European Judo Open in Madrid on Sunday, when he placed seventh in the under 60 kg category.
Posted at 2:11 p.m.
“It was still a big day,” said the judoka who has played five fights and ends his career with a record of three wins and two losses in a day when the thermometer oscillated near 40 degrees in the enclosure of the competitions.
Frascadore, 22, started the competition in style with three straight wins, including two in overtime. He defeated the Spaniard Raul Lopez, the Kazakh Sherzod Davlatov and the Swiss Samuel Waizenegger. The Quebecer then bowed out against the eventual silver medalist, Nazir Talibov (Azerbaijan).
“He was a very good opponent,” Frascadore said of Talibov. “He had a slightly less good style for me and he got me pretty quickly by ippon. »
All was not lost for the athlete from Quebec who trains in Montreal, because he reached the repechage where he was finally defeated by the French Maxime Merlin.
“It went well and it was a good fight, but I made a small mistake in the middle of the fight, which caused him to score a waza-ari. Then he handled the fight well and I wasn’t able to come back. »
Frascadore blamed himself a little after this defeat, because later, Merlin obtained the bronze without fighting following the withdrawal of his adversary. The disappointment of the law student at the University of Montreal was short-lived, because he knows that this kind of day can be formative for him.
“I’m disappointed to be seventh, because it’s very close, but at the same time quite far from the podium. […] Still, it’s a good experience. I had five fights, long fights, and I was able to test my physical form and see the energy I had on this big day. There are positives to take from that. I got my money’s worth at that tournament. »
Two other Canadians were present in the Spanish capital: Hakim Chala (-66 kg), of Montreal, and British Columbian Ian Ryder (-100 kg) who did not obtain a classification.
Chala first defeated Britain’s Finlay Allan and was then beaten by Spaniard David Ignacio Alvez Duarte.
As for Ryder, he took advantage of a bye in the first round only to be defeated by Frenchman Nicolas Pavloski.
The three Canadians will take the road to Valence to take part in a two-week preparatory camp.