LJUBLJANA, Slovenia — Judoka Kyle Reyes became the first Canadian to win a Junior World Championship title on Saturday, claiming gold in the under-100 kilogram class with an ippon over Leehyun Kim of South Korea.
Reyes began his day with successive victories with ippons over Bolot Toktogonov of Kyrgyzstan, Marius Piepke of Germany, and Ryuko Ogawa of Japan. He then defeated Toma Nikiforov of Belgium with a waza-ari in the semifinal.
No Canadian men’s judoka had won a medal at the Junior World Championship since 1992 when Nicolas Gill took silver in Buenos Aires.
"I knew that Canada had never had a junior world champion, but I never thought I would be the first," said Reyes, who resides in Japan. "It was my first and last Junior World Championship and I was pretty nervous, but I managed to put all that aside to have a great day."
Canada’s Ana Laura Portuondo Isasi placed fifth in the under-78 kilogram class in her first appearance at a Junior World Championship.
Portuondo Isasi fell to Samanta Soares of Brazil in the semifinal, accumulating two penalties to her opponent’s one. She took on Madeleine Malonga of France for the bronze, but lost by ippon.
She won her first bout by waza-ari against Klara Apotekar of Slovenia, followed by two quick victories by ippon in the preliminary round over Susana Melendez of Venezuela and Ji Yeon Yu of South Korea.
"It’s my first time competing in a Junior World Championships, and I’m still learning a lot everyday," Portuondo Isasi said. "These kinds of competitions are a great way of gaining experience.
"On top of that, Kyle’s win made the day a historic one for Canada. Just being here and living this moment, it’s really an amazing feeling."