Kelita Zupancic of Whitby, Ont., finished fifth in the women's 70-kilogram class at a Tokyo Grand Slam judo tournament Tuesday, following up on the weekend bronze medal performance of Perth, Ont., native Nicholas Tritton at 73 kilos.
The 2010 Kano Cup, named for the sport's founder, has been the site of one of Canada's best performances at the top international level.
Zupancic was coming off a silver medal win in a World Cup bout the week before in South Korea. In Japan she had a first-round bye, then scored twice with waza-ari to win her seond-round bout over Ami Taniguchi of Japan.
"At the start of the year I trained for a week with Taniguchi so we know each other well," said Zupancic, who spent the early part of the season as an invitee on the corporately-supported Japanese club team Komatsu. It is one of the world's top women's teams.
"I was confident during the bout and I knew I could beat her if I controlled the match," Zupancic said.
The Canadian lost her next match to world No. 3-ranked Ye-Sul Hwang of South Korea. Hwang scored two times with waza-ari.
"My opponent was very strong and I knew I'd have trouble beating her," Zupancic said. "I tried different techniques but it didn't work."
Amy Cotton of Antigonish, N.S., and Catherine Roberge of Montreal both had first-round byes, and then lost their opening bouts in 78 kilos.
Mayra Aguiar of Brazil scored twice with waza-ari against Cotton while Sayaka Anai of Japan defeated Roberge by ippon.
For Tritton, who was on the Kano podium for the second consecutive time, it matched the two-podium performance of mentor and Montreal coach Nicolas Gill in Tokyo.
Tritton, ranked 10th in the world going into the tournament. He opened with a victory over Eyjolfur Eyfells of Iceland then defeated Hwan Koo of South Korea and Shohei Ono of Japan in the men's 73-kg matches.
In the semifinal, Tritton the Pan American Games bronze medalist, was even with Japan's Riki Nakaya until he was thrown for a full-point ippon at the 4:55 mark. That ended the Canadian's tournament. Nakaya went on to win gold over compatriot Yuki Nishiyama in the final. Dirk Van Tichelt of Belgium earned the other bronze.
In men's 90 kilos, Alexandre Émond of Varennes, Que., placed ninth. He defeated Isao Cardenas of Mexico in his first bout then lost to Masashi Nishiyama of Japan.
In men's 81 kilos, Kalem Kachur of Montreal lost his opening bout to Shota Kawahara of Japan.
In women's 57 kilos, Joliane Melançon of Blainville, Que., opened with a loss to Gemma Howelll of Germany in a bout that went the five-minute limit. Melançon finally lost by waza-ari.