Anes Mati of Montreal, Quebec has won Canada’s first medal at the 2026 Youth Olympic Summer Games in Dakar, Senegal. On Sunday, Mati won the silver medal in the men’s 66 kilogram judo division.
Mati lost the final to Khazar Heydarov of Ukraine. Matar Diop of Senegal and Thiago Carvallo of Argentina shared the bronze medals. Mati received a bye to the quarterfinals, where he beat Carvallo by an Ippon and Yuko. Mati then beat Nathan Gbingbehi of France by an Ippon in the semifinals, and lost to Heydarov by an Ippon in the gold medal match.
Another developing Canadian story at the Youth Olympic Summer Games is in men’s rugby sevens. Canada will be playing France in the semifinals on Monday. In Sunday’s action, Canada finished in second place in Group A with a record of two wins and one loss. They defeated Germany 17-10 and Senegal 40-0, and lost to South Africa 24-17. The other semifinal will have South Africa versus Argentina.
The Canadian men’s rugby sevens team is competing in an U17 tournament. The team consists of Travis Altmann of Seagrave, Ontario; Austin Andrews of Vancouver, British Columbia; Mason Balzer of Abbotsford, British Columbia; Adam Burnett of Toronto, Ontario; Nolan Grealy of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario; Samuel Knowlton of Ottawa, Ontario; Dekker Kozak-Goebel of Toronto; Elliot MacDonald of Kingston, Ontario; William North of Toronto; Luca Robb of Victoria, British Columbia; Theodore Schaddelee of Victoria; and Jonas Van Gilst of Kilworth, Ontario.
