Canadian Olympic bronze medalist Antoine Valois-Fortier of Quebec City, Quebec found the podium twice in back-to-back weeks as he prepares for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The judokan who placed third at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, won the bronze medal in the men’s 81 kilogram division on March 31 in a grand prix from Tbilisi, Georgia and then placed third again in the men’s 81 kilogram division on April 7 in a grand prix from Antalya, Turkey.
In the Tbilisi Grand Prix, Valois-Fortier won his first two Pool B matches over Mominjan Arzikulov of Turkmenistan and Kamoliddin Rasulov of Uzbekistan before losing to Pool B winner Alpha Oumar Djalo of France. Valois-Fortier then won his two repechage matches over Yunus Bekmurzaev of Belarus and Anri Egutidze of Portugal to win the bronze medal. Frank De Wit of the Netherlands won the gold medal. Timo Cavelius of Germany won the silver medal and Tato Grigalashvili of Georgia won the other bronze medal.
In the Antalya Grand Prix, Valois-Fortier won his first two Pool C matches over Ilker Gulduren of Turkey and Andrea Regis of Italy before losing to Pool C winner Luka Maisuradze of Georgia. Valois-Fortier then beat Bekmurzaev and fellow Canadian Etienne Briand of Sept-Iles, Quebec in the repechage to win the bronze medal. Maisuradze won the gold medal. Christian Parlati of Italy won the silver medal and Khasan Khalmurzaev of Russia won the other bronze medal.
