In addition to the technical commission, the team from the province of Quebec will bring 20 judokas to Belo Horizonte who will compete for medals and participate in on-court training.

By Paulo Pinto / FPJCOM
June 20, 2022 / Sao Paulo (SP)

With the support of the Minas Gerais Judo Federation, the Brazilian Club Committee and Interodonto, Minas Tênis Clube will organize the XVI Minas Judo Cup and field training from July 8 to 10 at the UNIBH Arena, Belo Horizonte (MG).

Sérgio Pessoa, the head coach of the Canadian representation, underlined the quality of the competition and the importance of favoring technical exchanges.

“This will be our third participation in the Copa Minas de Judo; in the second, we were second in the youth class (under 18). The competition usually brings together excellent judokas from the base and this motivates us to represent Canada again by taking a team from Quebec. Our athletes are very motivated to win medals and participate in on-field training,” said the Brazilian coach, who has lived in Quebec for 18 years and captained his province’s national team for nine years.

In addition to coach Sérgio de Almeida Pessoa and assistant coach Bianca Ockedahl, the Canadian team is coming to Brazil with the following athletes: Charlie Bisson, Charline Bourque, Antoine Desgranges, Léanne Dussault, Fahd Fithane, Matis Ganet, Loane Gill, Samson Gill, Jamal Amath Kane, Arthur Karpukov, Daniil Kremerman, Simon Langlois, Méloize Perkinson, Frédérique Lavigne, Vincent Nepton, Jérémie Ngombi; Loika Cloé Robertson, Maya Roy, Catherine Toshkov and Laurence Gangon.

For Sérgio Cota, technical supervisor of the judo department at the Minas Tênis Clube, the presence of the Canadian team enhances the event and promotes one of the main objectives of the competition, which is the promotion and technical exchange of judo on the American continent.

“Maintaining the scores we have achieved in the last editions of the competition, we expect around a thousand judokas from 100 associations to compete. This will be the third time that we will receive teams from Canada led by Professor Sérgio Pessoa. It is a presence that, in addition to flattering us, allows the coexistence of athletes from North America and South America.

On-the-job training in São Paulo

Trained in judo at the Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras, kodansha teacher Sérgio Pessoa was one of the great technical references of Brazilian judo in the 1980s. He was the first Western champion of the traditional Jigoro Kano Cup, an important competition organized each year in Japan in 1986 and collected many medals, such as the silver medal won at the Paris Tournament in 1985.

Living since 2004 in Montreal, the largest city in the province of Quebec, he quickly lent his talent and knowledge to Canadian judo, becoming coach of the main team.

A great connoisseur of Brazilian judo, after training on the ground in Minas Gerais, Pessoa will take his team to an internship at the Sports Excellence Center in São Bernardo do Campo (SP).

“We will go to São Paulo for another important training session with judokas from the Sports Excellence Project, during which we also hope to meet athletes from the main state associations,” Pessoa concluded.