Montreal, August 30, 2017 – None of the Canadian judokas on the World Championships mat this Wednesday, in Budapest, Hungary, made it to the medal rounds.

In the Under 57 kg, Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard and Jessica Klimkait made it three matches into the preliminary round before being shown the door.

Saint-Hubert’s Beauchemin-Pinard was eliminated by Rio Olympic bronze medallist Telma Monteiro, from Portugal. A waza-ari during golden score time brought the fiercely contended match to an end.

“I fought really well,” said the Quebecer. “I had to quickly change my strategy at the beginning of the match, but I managed to do it and stayed in control throughout regular time. I was pretty confident going into golden score time. My floor game was solid and I could see her getting tired. I really thought I could bring it.”

She eventually made a small mistake and her opponent managed to get a point in. “I shouldn’t have let her keep her left hand on my lapel,” said Beauchemin-Pinard. “But I did, I moved a bit too much, and she swept me. During the whole fight, I felt my grip was superior, but I didn’t manage to get her down. That’s why we went into golden score time.”

Earlier on in the day, she had beaten, in order, Georgia’s Mariam Janashvili, by ippon, and China’s Lu Tongjuan, by waza-ari.

“My second bout, against the Chinese athlete, was very long,” she explained. “I didn’t score until nine minutes into the fight. It was intense, but my strategy worked well. I waited for the right time to strike.”

Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard didn’t reach her podium goal, but does not see her experience at Budapest negatively.

“I was after a medal, nothing less,” she said. “I really thought it was possible. I wouldn’t be easy, but I was in a pretty good group. Even against Monteiro, I felt I could make it, but it didn’t go as expected. I learned quite a bit today, and I applied a few good things, but there are elements I need to work on as well.”

Meanwhile, Klimkait was eliminated by British Nekoda Smythe-Davis with an ippon. Before that, she got a bye from the first round, and then quickly disposed of Algerian Ratiba Tariket with an ippon.

On the men’s side, Arthur Margelidon and Bradley Langlois, both fighting in the Under 73 kg, didn’t make it past the first round.

Langlois had two waza-aris against him and didn’t manage to get back at Portuguese Jorge Fernandes. Margelidon was served an ippon by South Korean An Changrim.

On Thursday, Antoine Valois-Fortier and Étienne Briand will be representing Canada in the Under 81 kg. Stéfanie Tremblay will be the only Canadian woman on the mat, in the Under 63 kg class.

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