Nunavut athletes return with medals from Quebec event

Judo Nunavut athletes returned home from a tournament Tuesday with four medals — one silver and three bronze — after competing in the 48th annual International Quebec Open in Longueuil, Que., over the weekend.

“I’m very proud of our athletes,” said head coach Mike Smook, who accompanied the team on the trip. “They basically went toe to toe with some of the better judoka in Canada.”

The crew included six teens from Judo Nunavut’s 2027 Canadian Winter Games team plus club president Matilda Pinksen, who competed Nov. 8 and 9 in the adult category.

Pinksen earned silver, while Azriel Tagnigou Petnkeu, 14, received a bronze and Charlotte Smook, 14, was awarded two bronze medals.

The rest of the team included Arthur Lagace, Wenzell Djalogue, Wafa Firoza Rahman, Kimberly Gissing, and Miki-Jaq Bracken.

“All our athletes stood out,” said coach Mike Smook. “They went out there and they looked like they belonged at a national tournament.”

Petnkeu injured his elbow and a hip flexor during the ground-fighting competition, forcing him to adjust his technique in the medal round for upright fighting.

“He wasn’t 100 per cent when he was competing, but he was awesome,” Smook said.

Smook’s advice?

“He told me to fight like an old man,” Petnkeu said.

The teen did that by abandoning the fancier throws he is known for, he said, and instead focusing on balance and the basics. He finished his bronze medal match with “a big hip throw.”

Charlotte Smook found success in two fighting styles: grappling and throwing.

Having a head coach for a dad helped, she said.

“For my last fight, he just told me to win — just leave it all on the mat, and I did,” she said.

The team is looking into attending another competition in Quebec or Ontario in the late winter or early spring.