Music: {allcanada} CANADIAN REYES WINS SILVER AT JUDO'S TOKYO GRAND SLAM

Sunday, December 1, 2013

{allcanada} CANADIAN REYES WINS SILVER AT JUDO'S TOKYO GRAND SLAM

TOKYO -- Canadian judoka Kyle Reyes won silver in the under-100 kilograms class on Sunday at the Tokyo Grand Slam of judo.

Reyes, who just three weeks ago became the first Canadian junior world champion in the history of judo, proved that he was ready to do the same at the senior level, defeating three top-10 ranked opponents.

"Considering that he's just 20-years-old, it was an amazing performance by Kyle today," said national coach Nicolas Gill. "He won four really impressive bouts."

The judoka got his day started with back-to-back wins by ippon over Brazil's Rafael Buzacarini and South Korea's Kyeongtal Kim.

In the quarter-finals, Reyes kept his run going by eliminating France's Cyrille Maret, fifth-best judoka in the world.

"Kyle was trailing by a waza-ari when he took charge and scored an ippon," said Gill.

In the semifinal, up against the 2009 world champion Maxim Rakov of Kazakhstan, Reyes held on in a very tight battle, eventually winning by a yuko.

Reyes was finally defeated by Lukas Krpalek of the Czech Republic.

Facing off against the third-ranked judoka in the gold medal final, Reyes fell by a yuko.

"Krpalek is one of the best in the world at the moment, and Kyle barely lost a very close fight," said Gill, who has been extremely happy with the progression of his protege. "He's had a fantastic start to his career."

The Dog Who Saved Christmas