By James Brydon, CTVOlympics.ca
Although Sergio Pessoa has already secured his spot for London 2012, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot at stake this weekend for the top-ranked Canadian judoka.
The Pan American Judo Championships take place Friday and Saturday in Montreal, as the event returns to Canada for the first time since 2007. After being sidelined by an ACL injury for the latter part of 2011, it is a perfect opportunity for the 23-year-old to get a big win ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games.
According to his coach Nicholas Gill, the Montreal native may very well be the favourite to do so.
“He should be I think,” said Gill, Team Canada head coach who doubles as the federation’s high-performance director. “Only the Brazilian (Felipe Kitadai) is currently ranked higher than him, but so far the only time they have met, Sergio beat him. And Sergio wasn’t in the best shape; he had just come back from the ACL (injury). Now he’s healthy, he’s fit, he’s at home, so everyone’s there for him to win.”
Pessoa, who will compete on Saturday in the under 60-kilogram division, won’t have the same stress as some of his teammates, for whom the Pan American Championships represent their last chance to qualify for the Olympics. Despite that, he is still putting as much pressure on himself to do well.
And after missing out on the previous two championships due to injury, nothing less than top of the podium will truly satisfy him.
“I have a very good chance to win,” Pessoa said. “I don’t consider myself the favourite to win, because it’s my first time fighting these championships, but I’m setting my expectations really high … If I’m on the podium with a bronze, yeah it’s not bad, but I really want to win. I don’t want to be second or third. I’m really focused to win this tournament.”
Even though he hasn’t fought much lately, Pessoa still feels confident against the field he’ll be facing, having gone unbeaten against those he’s previously fought. But he knows it’s going to be a challenge because many of them will be fighting for their Olympic lives.
“I know there are some guys from other countries that haven’t qualified yet so they’re going to come out hard and fight hard.”
Pessoa, who has been competing in judo since he was four, got into the sport because of his father, Sergio Pessoa Sr., who represented his native Brazil at the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games.
He said that his dad, who is also the assistant national men’s team coach, has been supportive throughout his career and has helped to make him “a better person and a better athlete as well.”
In London, he will be looking to capture a medal as much for his father as for himself. He hopes to use this upcoming weekend’s experience as a springboard to achieve that feat.
“If I win here, then it’s going to give me confidence and it’s going to be a positive thing,” Pessoa said. “If I’m able to replicate this performance at the Olympics then that would be good. I just want to have a good performance and carry that performance on to the Olympics.”
A fighter in a completely different boat than Pessoa is teammate Kelita Zupancic. Zupancic, who competes Friday in the women’s under 70kg division, has yet to qualify for London 2012.
Gill said the challenge for the Whitby, Ont., native, who has medalled three times in the event including winning the gold in 2010, will be to handle that pressure.
“She’s healthy, she’s fit, but obviously there will be a high amount of stress on her,” Gill said. “The weight class is quite deep. The Colombian is a past world champion and the Cuban is a junior world champion, and the Brazilian is a top-15 player in the world … add to that it’s an Olympic qualification, it will make it a very difficult tournament.”
Zupancic, who trained in Japan for one year, calling her time in the birthplace of judo a “once-in-a-lifetime” experience, said she has had her sights on the 2012 Olympic Games since she was nine years old.
In fact, she did more than just dream about it; she put that dream to paper.
“I looked at my timeline and said I wanted to be an Olympian,” Zupancic said. “Olympians in our country are so respected and it’s an honour to be an Olympian and I calculated when would I potentially be in an Olympic Games and so I drew myself on the podium.”
Gill said it’s tricky to say what will be required for the 21-year-old to qualify for London. Depending on how other judokas do before May 1st, when Olympic qualification concludes, she might not need to win any matches this weekend; however the possibility also exists that she might need to win the whole tournament in order to qualify.
But Gill said Wednesday that she has put in the pre-fight work and he is hopeful that she has a good day of fights.
“Preparation went well,” Gill said. “This week she’s been looking sharp in training. You can tell she’s obviously very stressed, but everything seems in control.”
All in all, Pessoa believes it will be an exciting weekend at Montreal’s McGill University.
“It’s a big event for us,” Pessoa said. “It’s going to be exciting to fight in Montreal, because it’s my home town here in Canada, in front of my fans.”
NOTES: On May 1, men ranked inside the top 22, and women ranked inside the top 14 in international classifications automatically qualify for the London 2012 Olympic Games; a single judoka is permitted to represent his/her country in each of the weight categories.
Among Canadian judokas, Pessoa (Under 60 kg), Nicholas Tritton (Under 73 kg), Amy Cotton (women’s Under 78 kg), Antoine Valois-Fortier (Under 81 kg) and Alexandre Émond (Under 90 kg) are all ensured an Olympic berth due to accumulated points. Tritton is injured and will be replaced by Justin Imagawa at this weekend’s competition.
Joliane Melançon (Under 57 kg), Sasha Mehmedovic (Under 66 kg) and Kelita Zupancic (Under 70 kg) are still looking to gain qualification.
All told, 13 men’s spots and eight women’s spots will be up for grabs by non-qualified athletes. At this weekend’s Pan American Championships, the players in the four heavier weight classes will compete Friday, while those in the lighter weight classes will fight on Saturday.
