Montreal, March 25, 2017 – Antoine Bouchard is bringing home a silver medal from the Pan-American Judo Open in Lima, Peru.

In his first international combat in the U73 kg category, the Saguenay native bowed out to Brazilian Marcelo Contini in a tight final-round match.

“I eliminated two strong opponents in my second and semi-final rounds, but I knew I had to be careful on the ground. I lacked aggressiveness in the final. I think my problem was that I didn’t initiate enough grip changes. I ended up receiving a shido,” explained Bouchard. The judoka will be competing in his usual weight category of U66 kg at next month’s Pan-American Championships.

With a perfect record through the preliminary rounds, the Quebecois scored a waza-ari to beat Brazil’s Eduardo Barbosa in the semi-final.

“Today I competed against opponents who were much bigger than me since I didn’t cut any weight. What I liked about competing outside my usual category was that I had less to lose, which made it less stressful,” concluded the 22-year-old.

Alberta’s Erin Morgan (U48 kg) won her bronze medal match by scoring an ippon against Paola Garcia of Puerto Rico. After the preliminary rounds, she had a record of one win and one loss. Argentina’s Keisy Perafan defeated her by ippon in the semi-final.

In the U66 kg group, Montreal’s Gueorgui Poklitar couldn’t hold his own in the bronze medal bout against Brazil’s Marcelo Fuzita, and had to settle for fifth place. The Canadian judoka had one win and one loss in the preliminaries and dispatched of Colombia’s Juan Hernandez by ippon in the repechage.

With a win and a loss in the preliminary rounds, Bradley Langlois finished seventh in the U66 kg category after losing by ippon to Monaco’s Cedric Bessi in the repechage.

Patrick Cantin (U73 kg) didn’t rank.

Four Medals in Bremen

The Canadian team put on a strong showing at Saturday’s International Masters Cadet/Junior Tournament in Bremen, Germany, snagging one gold medal and three bronze in the U18 age category.

Alexandre Arencibia (U81 kg) of Montreal was crowned champion in his category. He finished the preliminary rounds with four victories under his belt, and went on to defeat Bram Pieter Van der Elst of the Netherlands in the semi-final before beating Germany’s Johann Lenz in the final.

In the same weight category, Luka Khatelishvili also started the tournament with a string of four wins but bowed out in the semi-final. His opponent went on to win the silver medal. Khatelishvili overcame Germany’s Matteo Habermann in the battle for bronze.

In U66 kg action, Keagan Young claimed his spot on the third step of the podium. His tournament began with three wins in his first four bouts in the preliminaries. In the repechage, he showed all three of his opponents the door. In the bronze medal final, he claimed another victory, this one against Lucca Portella of Brazil.

Also competing in the U66 kg group, Philip Dion came out of the preliminary rounds with a perfect record of four wins. In his next fight, however, he was shut out by Germany’s Dennis Mauer, who went on to snag the gold medal. Dion finished in ninth spot after losing to Britain’s Archie Platt in the repechage.

The U90 kg bronze medal final featured two Canadians, Ian Ryder and Benjamin Kendrick, going head-to-head. Kendrick had the upper hand in the combat and relegated Ryder to fifth place. Kendrick had earlier racked up two victories and one defeat in the qualifying round, as well as two wins in the repechage. Ryder had a record of three wins in the qualifiers, followed by a loss to Germany’s Niklas Schiebl.

Also competing were Maximus Litzenberger (U46 kg), Arno Blacquière (U50 kg), Erik Vandersanden (U55 kg), Aidos Sapenov (U55 kg), Christian Dematto (U55 kg), Dontae De Jesus (U60 kg), Joel Demaere (U60 kg), David Wu (U66 kg), and Sava Antic (U73 kg). None of them ranked.

“The athletes all worked really hard and we had a lot of wins today. I’m proud of my warriors,” commented coach Jean-Pierre Cantin.

Two Seventh-Place Finishes in Thuringia

Canada was well represented at the International Thuringia Cadet/Junior Cup, held in Germany. In the U18 age group, Kiera Westlake (U52 kg) finished in seventh place, with a record of four wins and two losses. Rachal Krapman (U57 kg) placed ninth, with three victories and two defeats to her name.

Léa Roy (U48 kg), Eibhleann Alexander (U52 kg), Isabelle Harris (U58 kg), Alicia Fiandor (U63 kg), Yasmine Nadon-Cloutier (U63 kg), Sierra Tanner (U63 kg), Coralie Godbout (U70 kg), and Annabelle Darlow (+70 kg) competed but did not rank.

“It was a difficult day for the Canadian team. We were not able to capitalize on a number of opportunities in our matches. Many of the athletes had opportunities to move up in the standings, but mistakes in their hand placement and their tactical game plans led to a number of loses. We lost a few close golden score matches, which made a huge difference on the final results for many of the athletes,” explained coach Ewan Beaton.

In the U21 age group, Sarah Perks finished seventh in the +78 kg weight group after winning one bout and losing two. Virginia Nemth (U48 kg) placed ninth with two victories and two losses. Marie Besson (U52 kg) also came in ninth, with a record of one win and two losses. With three wins and two losses on her record, Camelia Pitsillis (U57 kg) also finished ninth.

Taeya Koliaska (U52 kg), Janika Michel (U63 kg), Maria Carla Chirila (U70 kg), Adriana Portuondo-Isasi (U70 kg), Hana Kuno (U70 kg), and Keira Trotter (U78 kg) also competed in the tournament.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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