June 1 – Nothing was going to stop Joseph Polossifakis in Moscow – not even a bad ankle.

Polossifakis went from nearly having to bow out of the competition due to a bad ankle sprain suffered on Friday to tearing through multiple opponents throughout the direct elimination rounds on Saturday.

The Montreal native made quick work of Spaniard Guillermo Mancheno with a 15-5 victory in the table of 64, and followed that up with a hard fought 15-14 win in the table of 32 against France’s Nicolas Rousset. In the table of 16 he went up against Romanian Alin Badea and advanced to the quarter finals with a 15-11 win.

Polossifakis ultimately fell 15-11 in the quarter finals to the tournament’s eventual champion, Romanian Tiberiu Dolniceanu, ending a remarkable run for the 24-year old.

“I’m really happy! After the difficult year I’ve had, it’s incredible to have achieved this,” said Polossifakis, “I had a bad sprain and (my ankle) was completely blue. I didn’t expect this at all!”

The top-10 finish is huge for Polossifakis in terms of Olympic qualifying, and fact that was not lost on him as he reflected on his successful day.

“Every Olympic qualifying point is important, and I didn’t want to just give up without trying,” he said, “(Friday night) I wasn’t sure if I would be in action on Saturday. I finally decided to try it in the first bout and it went well. My movement was limited, but I concentrated on making efficient and controlled moves. Bout after bout it ended up working out quite well.”

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With files from www.sportcom.com