The 2023 edition of the World Junior Championships began on August 14th in Amman City in Jordan. Quebec was represented by the Montreal Wrestling Club NTC’s Connor Church (79 kg) and Sophia Bechard (55 kg).

Connor Church would be the first to step onto the mat, with his first match against Magzhan Zhannyrbay of Kazakhstan. Connor would start the match off in a strong fashion, keeping the score close in the first half. Connor would lose via Grand Superiority (10-0) and not move on to the repechage.

Connor Church vs. Magzhan Zhannyrbay

In Women’s Wrestling Sophia Bechard would begin her tournament against defending World Champion Moe  Kiyooka of Japan. Sophia would lose the match via Grand Superiority and would not move on to the repechage due to a massive upset where Kiyooka would lose in the semi-finals to her Romanian opponent.

Sophia Bechard vs. Moe  Kiyooka

Despite the fact that the results were not what we had hoped for, our Quebec athletes will grow and learn from this and come back stronger from this.