It was a veritable bonanza of medals for the Burnaby Judo Club, as their athletes returned earlier this month from the national championships in Edmonton. In the under-16 division, it was a virtual haul.
Leading the way for Team B.C. was double-gold winner Ekaterina Danilkov, who walked off with first-place results in both the u16 and u18 girls divisions.
The 13-year-old successfully captured the open champion in the 40-kilogram u16 division, winning four matches along the way.
Team B.C. achieved 46 medals at the event to finish third overall, with nine of the medals recorded by members of the Burnaby Judo Club.
Danilkov was just part of a strong u16 troupe who pushed their way to the podium. Other Burnaby athletes to emerge with a medal were Raphael Gaanan (silver, 60kg), Hailey Ko (silver, 52kg), Zoe Lee (bronze, 57kg), Nikola Petrovic (bronze, +73kg), Rakiia Lolieva (u18 bronze, 48kg), Klavdia Danilkov (senior bronze, 48kg) and Emil Schenk (u18 bronze, 73kg).
Gaanan achieved his success after overcoming an injury, but credits his support and faith with getting him through.
"This sport is all in the mind. Competing at nationals with my hip flexor severely sprained and still making the podium surprised me more than anyone," he said. "With help from my coaches at Burnaby Judo Club; as well as, Team BC Judo, my family and especially God, I have been able to continue to progress . They have made me who I am and I am grateful for that."
The success at the u16 level was proof that the young competitors are putting in the hard work, Burnaby coach Blake Tysuki said.
“The u16 group are very motivated and they work very hard every class,” said Tysuki. “They have all fought in two age divisions during the year, most of them have already performed outstandingly well in the age group below them.
“To earn these medals was just a confirmation of their hard work and their potential paying off.”
He said the trio of Danilkov, Gaanan and Ko have benefitted from nation-wide competition, as well as training sessions as far away as Quebec.
Their work has created the foundation for more success, fellow coach Jeremy Le Brie added.
“Even though they are pretty young – most of them are first-year u16 – we can see good maturity in their judo,” said Le Brie. “The next step now is to actually work on more advanced technical/strategy compared to what they are supposed to work on at their age.”
