Montréal, June 8, 2013 – Alexis Morin-Martel obtained a 5^th place finish in Tallinn, Estonia, while Stéfanie Tremblay came away with a 7^th place classification in Lisbon, Portugal, at the European Opens on Saturday.

“I went through some really tough fights today and overall I felt like I battled hard. That said, the podium was definitely within my grasp. A medal would clearly have been more satisfying than a 5^th place finish,” Morin-Martel said.

The 24^thranked Quebecer won two of his four bouts in the under 73 kg division.

After receiving a bye through to the second round, he won his first bout by ippon against the Belorussian Aliaksei Sviryd, before falling in an extremely tight bout to the Brit Jan Gosiewski in the quarterfinals.

After beating Morin-Martel by virtue of taking fewer penalties, Gosiewski would eventually go on to claim the silver medal.

In the repechage, Morin-Martel endured another white-knuckled affair versus the Brit Patrick Dawson, the 44^th ranked judoka in the international standings. He would finally hang on for the victory after his opponent was disqualified.

In the bronze medal match, the Quebecer would succumb to the Belorussian Aliaksei Ramanchyk, a bout that went right down to the final whistle.

“I had a few questionable penalties called against me in a very short period of time. It’s pretty much the story of my day. I took penalties at extremely inopportune moments that were just too much to overcome, Morin-Martel explained. In the bronze medal bout, I retook command after the first minute, but then I was in catch-up mode for the next three and a half. I didn’t do enough to climb back into it the fight.”

Aliaksei Ramanchyk also beat Arthur Margelidon on Saturday.  After taking out the Ghanaian Emmanuel Nertey, the Quebecer suffered the same fate as his compatriot against the Belorussian.

Still in the under 73 kg class, Étienne Briand eliminated the Lithuanian Regimantas Rybinas by ippon, but would eventually get a taste of his own medicine versus the Ukrainian judoka, Dmytro Kanivets. As for Patrick Gagné, he would lose his only fight of the day, falling by way of ippon to the Pole Tomasz Adamiec.

The Pole would go on to claim the other bronze medal in play.

In the under 66 kg category, Antoine Bouchard managed to squeak by the Armenian Hovhannes Davtyan, but succumbed in his next match to the Brit Nathon Burns by ippon.

Competing in the under 60 kg class, Sergio Pessoa lost to the Swiss judoka Valentin Rota, who won with an ippon.

At the European Open of Lisbon, Stéfanie Tremblay also won two of her four bouts in the under 57 kg division.

The Quebecoise started things off well with a two waza-ari performance versus the Israeli Noa Snir, before defeating the Dutchwoman Juul Franssen by virtue of taking fewer penalties.

Tremblay would lose in the quarterfinals, however, and then fell in the repechage to the eventual bronze medal winner.

It was the Pole Agata Perenc who inflicted the first defeat on the Quebecer with a waza-ari, while the Brit Nekoda Davis eliminated her from the competition by way of an ippon.

Also in the under 57 kg category, the Quebecoise Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard lost her one and only match to the Slovenian Vlora Bedeti, a tight bout that once again came down to penalties.

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