BUDAPEST, Hungary – Jade Dufour and Tianna Kennett both captured bronze medals for Canada at the U23 World Championships.

Dufour of the Montreal Wrestling Club defeated Mariia Vynnyk of Ukraine 7-4 in the 50 kg bronze medal match.

“I knew she was feisty and was going to be a strong opponent. I knew I had to take my time and make the least number of mistakes possible,” said the Belle River, Ont., native.

“To have that opportunity to represent Canada is amazing. It’s one more step towards my ultimate goal of becoming an Olympian and the best wrestler I can be. Capturing this bronze proves that I am a competitor and the rest of the world better watch out because I’m getting better and better each day.”

To get to the bronze medal match, Dufour, 22, bested Fatme Mandeva of Bulgaria 10-0 in the repechage.

Kennett, of Manor, Sask., staged a second-half comeback victory in the 59 kg bronze medal match. She trailed 0-1 at the half, but scored on two late takedowns to secure a 6-5 win over Yuliya Pisarenka of Belarus.

“Going into the tournament I was reminding myself why I love this sport and why I put so much effort into it,” said Kennett, 22. “Going into the match I didn’t have a lot of expectations on myself other than to wrestle my hardest and enjoy the time that I had out there.”

“The medal itself is nice to have and I guess represents all that work that I put in but at the end of the day you just go back into the room and try to fix the mistakes that were made and keep getting better.”

To qualify for the medal match, the Calgary Dinos wrestler defeated Anastasia Nichita of Moldova 8-0 in the repechage.

Karla Godinez of the Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club also competed from bronze, but was bested in her 55 kg match by Marina Sedneva of Kazakhstan 7-0.

Taylor to wrestle for bronze

Hannah Taylor of Cornwall, P.E.I., also has a chance to take home U23 World Championship bronze from the tournament. The 21-year-old qualified for the 57 kg semifinals after defeating Pinki of India 2-1 in the quarterfinals, and Eda Tekin of Turkey 4-0 in the qualifying round.

In the semifinals, Taylor, from the Brock Wrestling Club, fell to Japan’s Sae Nanjo 14-4.

Tomorrow, she’ll wrestle the winner of the repechage match between Kazakhstan’s Nuraida Anarkulova and Mongolia’s Khongorzul Boldsaikhan.

On the men’s side, Alex Moore and Nishan Randhawa made it as far as the quarterfinals but were unable to advance to the semis.

Moore, of the Montreal Wrestling Club, had an impressive start, defeating Georgian and Russian wrestlers Zaur Beradze and Azamat Zakuev before falling in the quarterfinals to Osman Gocen of Turkey.

Randhawa, 21, picked up a high-scoring win in the 1/8 final against Mongolia’s Batmagnai Enkhtuvshin 10-9. In the quarterfinals, Randhawa, of Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club, led Belarussian Dzianis Khramiankou 7-2 at the break, but fell behind in the second half and lost 10-7.

Complete results from the tournament are available here.