It was a golden Friday for Canadian judokas Evelyn Beaton and Julien Frascadore at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
Beaton topped the podium in the women’s -52-kilogram weight class at her debut Games, defeating Sofia Asvesta of Cyprus 1-0.
The 21-year-old from Lethbridge, Alta., earned the lone point with just over a minute remaining in regulation, taking Asvesta down for a yuko score before holding her off for the rest of the four-minute bout.
Beaton defeated defending champion Tinka Easton of Australia 1-0 by yuko in the semifinals earlier Friday at the Scottish Event Campus.
Evelyn’s father, Ewan Beaton, is a member of the Judo Canada Hall of Fame, and represented Canada at both the 1992 and 1996 Olympics.
Evelyn Beaton battles to Commonwealth Games judo gold
Frascadore followed up Beaton’s triumph by dethroning defending champion Georgios Balarjishvili of Cyprus in the men’s -66kg final.
Frascadore and Balarjishvili each received two shido penalties in regulation, putting them both one away from defeat as the match went to extra time in the golden score period. Frascadore claimed the win by yuko after controlling his opponent on the ground.
The 26-year-old Frascadore, from Beauport, Que., booked his ticket to the final by defeating Nigeria’s Michael Agbo by ippon after scoring two yukos.
Golden score leads Julien Frascadore to a Commonwealth Games judo gold medal
How to watch the Commonwealth Games on CBC
Montreal’s Heidi Quach fell just short of a judo title in the women’s -48kg event, losing 2-1 in extra time to India’s Asmita Dey in the opening gold-medal match of the day.
Quach opened the scoring by throwing her opponent to her side for a yuko score, but Dey responded by slamming the Canadian down for a yuko of her own to tie it.
The aggressive Dey attacked relentlessly but Quach withstood the storm to force the golden score period. Dey took down Quach with an o-uchi-gari throw for a yuko point to claim the win, leaving Quach with the silver medal.
Quach earns judo silver medal after falling in gold medal final at Commonwealth Games
The 22-year-old Quach dug deep to win a nine-minute semifinal against Malta’s Katryna Esposito earlier in the day, overcoming the taller opponent in golden score after tying the match at 1-1. Quach secured the victory via ippon with an o-uchi-gari.
Canada won eight medals at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, including four gold.
Track and field action continued at the Commonwealth Games on Friday where Canadian Damian Warner will have two final events to try and retake the lead in the decathlon.
The London, Ont., native began Day 2 of competition with a 39-point lead and was fastest among all competitors in the first event of the day, finishing the 110m hurdles in 14.04 seconds.
But a ninth-overall finish in the discus (37.61m), and a top clearance of 4.40m in the pole vault left Warner (6,669) 35 points behind leader Linden Victor of Grenada (6,704) before the evening session’s final two events: the javelin and 1,500m.
Mentally frustrated and tired, Damian Warner vows to continue fighting
Speaking with CBC Sports reporter Devin Heroux after the pole vault, Warner said he was frustrated and tired but that he wasn’t going to quit.
“Mentally, I’m quite frustrated, this whole morning has not been like me. And physically my body just feels a little bit tired. Near the end of yesterday, the cramping and stuff has kind of made me feel a little bit flat today,” Warner said. “But you just gotta keep fighting [until] the end, and you never know what happens.”
Warner, the 2020 Olympic decathlon champion, won a Commonwealth Games gold in 2014 in Glasgow.
Canadian boxer Scarlett Delgado guaranteed herself a medal by winning her women’s 54kg semifinal on Friday at the Commonwealth Games.
Delgado, of Brampton, Ont., defeated England’s Lauren Mackie 4-1 to advance to the gold-medal match on Saturday (6 a.m. ET, CBC Gem, CBCSports.ca) against India’s Preeti Pawar.
Edmonton boxer Joshua Ofori will bring home a bronze medal after losing his men’s 80kg semifinal 5-0 to Ankush Yadav of India.
Joshua Ofori brings home bronze after loss in Commonwealth Games boxing semifinal
