Canadian Camelia Pitsilis earns silver medal at junior European Cup judo event

COIMBRA, Portugal – Montreal’s Camelia Pitsilis captured a silver medal Saturday at the junior European Cup judo event.

The Canadian won her first three preliminary bouts in the 57-kilogram class by ippon, then did the same in the semfinal versus Britain’s Josie Steele. But Italian Silvia Pellitteri scored an ippon in the final to clinch the gold medal.

“I felt really good, everything went very well,” Pitsilis said. “I was focused to finish each fight properly.

“I’m really happy to win a medal today because I’ve wanted one for a long time and I’ve worked really hard for it. The final was very tight. It started out great, and I was in control, but I made a mistake and it made me lose the gold medal.”

Canadian Marie Besson was fifth in the 52-kilogram class after losing to Portugal’s Ana Agulhas in the bout for third place.