Prince Edward Island, was home to the 2023 Canada Games where, 14 Judo NB athletes had the chance to compete from the 27th of February to the 5th of March.
Judo NB's team was composed of 7 females and 7 males competing from various regions of the province.
From left to right : First Row : Josée Daigle (female coach); Vicky Pitre (-70 KG); Blake Cloutier (-50 KG); Chelsea Pelletier (-48 KG); Marisol Savoie (-44 KG); Noah Cyr (-66 KG); Samuel Nadeau (Team Manager) Second Row : Xavier Dupéré (+81 KG); Jacob Element (-55 KG); Nicholas Haslett (-81 KG); Kayla McLean (-52 KG); Egan McLean (-60 KG); Félix Cyr (-73 KG); Brandi Lingley (+70 KG); Mahée Savoie (-57 KG); Dakota Sanzana (-63 KG); Shawn McManus (Male Coach)
Mark Gifford (Sport Liaison)
Competitions started on March 1st with 7 categories (-44 KG, -48 KG, -52 KG, -50 KG, -55 KG, -60 KG, -66 KG)
First to confirm their medal was Marisol Savoie (GOLD!) with a win against her rival Maya Roy (QC). (3-1 record)
Egan McLean was up next to get his ticket to the podium, winning his Bronze Medal fight with a beautiful Ippon against Nguyen from Manitoba. McLean started off the day with a win, to then lose his semifinal against Lowan Lebris from BC. (2-1 record)
Blake Cloutier (-50 KG), Chelsea Pelletier (-48 KG) and Kayla McLean (-52 KG) all fought really well in their individual competitions but weren't able to get a win to continue in their competitions.
Noah Cyr (-66 KG) was having a great day starting with a first-round win. He then lost his second fight to get into the repechage. He then continued with two extra wins, in order to catch a spot in the bronze final. Unfortunately, Cyr wasn't able to secure the bronze and finished the competition with a 5th place. (3-2 record)
Also fighting for a bronze was Jacob Element (-55 KG), starting the day with 2 wins (one against Jenkins (NS) and Thiel (BC), he then lost his semi-final to the soon-to-be gold medalist Loic Beaton. Then in the bronze medal fight, Element fought Antoine Jean-Pierre from (QC). Finished the day with a (2-2 record).
Day 2 - March 2nd (categories fighting -57, -63,-70,+70,-73,-81,+81)
Four medals were won on day 2!
It started with Mahée Savoie in the -57 KG. Savoie started the day with 3 wins (Fenrick, SK; Machado, MB and Hinchey, YT) in order to catch her spot in the finals where she would be facing a familiar opponent, Catherine Toshkov from Québec. After a hard-fought match, Savoie was awarded the silver medal after being thrown for 2 Wazaries. (3-1 record)
Dakota Sanzana (-63 KG)
Starting the day off with 2 wins against (Steiger, BC and Chevalier, ON), Sanzana had a tough match coming in the semifinals. Unfortunately, Sanzana wasn't able to win her semi-final against a tough opponent Callie Render (AB) and had to reset her focus on the bronze medal fight.
Sanzana managed to throw Franson (SK) to secure her first bronze of the games. (3-1 record)
Brandi Lingley (+70)
After winning all of her 3 fights in the Pool A, (Mineque, ON; Simmonds, NL; Verge, NS) Brandi was first seed going into the crossovers. Her next matchup was Marianna Karas from Alberta. With only seconds left, Brandi managed to throw her opponent with a Wazari as the crowd erupted with cheers. This meant that she was going to fight for gold!
Unfortunately for her, Lingley wasn't able to find the key to beat her opponent, Frederique Lavigne from Québec. (4-1 record)
Our next medal on day 2 was Félix Cyr (-73 KG).
Cyr, started his day against a tough opponent to which he gave a good fight (Tsatsalashvili, ON). This meant that if he wanted a medal he would have to win all 3 of his next matches.
Cyr managed to do just that with wins against (Ginn, NS; Pamunuwe Gedar, PE and Deeg, AB) (3-1 Record)
Other fighters on day 2, included Vicky Pitre (-70 KG), Nicholas Haslett (-81 KG) and Xavier Dupéré (+81 KG)
Vicky Pitre : Usually fighting in the -63 KG, Pitre decided to move up to have a shot at making the Canada Games Team. She started the day with a tough opponent that would end up finishing 2nd in the tournament. Pitre then won a fight against Fortier, YT. Pitre's competition ended with a loss against Franson from SK. (1-2 record)
Nicholas Haslett: Starting the day with a win against Khan, NL, Haslett had his run for gold stopped in the quarterfinals against Julian Gissing, NU. Haslett then won his fight against Bryant-Hunter from PE, to secure his spot in the bronze final. The task was big going against Louis Doyon from QC. Haslett finished with a 5th-place position. (2-2 record)
Xavier Dupéré: With his first national size competition, Dupéré was eager to fight and show what he could do. After going the distance with James from MB, Dupéré lost by Wazari.
He then fought Hallett from SK, to which he couldn't find the solution. (0-2 record)
Day 3 - Team fights
On day 3, it was time for the team fights. Province vs. Province.
Female team fight : After all individual competition done, the female team was awarded the 3rd seed going into the team competition. The day started well with a win against team SK. They then had to fight against the strong Alberta team, to which they unfortunately weren't able to get through them.
They then had to face, hometown favorites, team PEI, for the bronze medal. Team NB managed to sweep it with a (6-0 win).
Watch as Vicky Pitre pins down her opponent to confirm the bronze medal for team NB.
Men's Team Fights
The male team started their day against Team NS. They were able to get through and go against team BC in quarterfinals, in which they got a very good match to which they lost 4-3 (tiebreaker). Xavier Dupéré won his first national competition fight!
Next up was team PEI, in repechage. The guys won that fight with a 5-1 score.
Bronze medal final! The team was up against team Alberta. The boys fought very well losing the match due to a points tiebreak rule. Score was 3-3 but team Alberta was able to win all their fights with ippon. The boys fought really well!
Finally, to end the week on a high note, a judo athlete chosen to be flag bearer for the closing ceremony, congrats Marisol Savoie!
For more pictures visit : https://team-equipe-nb.smugmug.com/PEI-2023/PEI-to-be-added/Judo/
All pictures are taken from these websites and all credit goes to them.
Thank you
Sam