Montréal, September 14^th, 2013 – Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard and Sergio Pessoa both climbed onto the podium Saturday, claiming bronze medals at the Rijeka Grand Prix in Croatia.

Competing in the under 60 kg category, Pessoa got the better of the Slovenian Matjaz Trbovc in the bronze medal final. In the semifinals, the Quebecer was defeated by the 8^th ranked Russian Beslan Mudranov, who would eventually go on to claim gold in the grand finale.

“It was a great day; I put in a really good performance! Pessoa beamed at the beginning of his interview, after recording an ippon in all of his victories on the day.

“I went in confidently against the Russian, but he caught me by surprise with a quick attack that came at the two-minute mark of the bout. He was clearly the judoka to beat today (Saturday) in my division. It’s good to take on opponents of that kind of caliber, because it really lets you know where you’re at quality-wise, and what you need to work on to get better,” Pessoa, who won gold Wednesday at the Francophonie Games, went on to explain.

Earlier that day, the Quebecer defeated the Italian Fabio Andreoli and the Pole Lukasz Kielbasinski.

Not to be outdone by her teammate, Beauchemin-Pinard (-57 kg) also came away with a bronze medal. Exempted from the first round, she got things started with a win over the Ghanaian Szandra Szogedi before dropping her next match to the 4^th ranked judoka Miryam Roper of Germany.

In the repechage, the Quebecer made quick work of the Croatian Andrea Bekic, before claiming one of the two bronze medals up for grabs by defeating the Frenchwoman Cindy Huber.

Other Canadian results

Also on the women’s side in the under 57 kg class, Stéfanie Tremblay finished in 5^th. Each bout the Quebecer participated in ended in an ippon. After benefitting from a bye, she started convincingly with a win over the Swiss Émilie Amaron. Tremblay would go on to drop her next bout, falling to the 7^th ranked Telma Monteiro of Portugal.

The Brit Connie Ramsay suffered the wrath of Tremblay in the repechage, but the Kosovar Norapour Gjakova would get the better of her in the bronze medal match.  Roper, who had earlier beaten Beauchemin-Pinard, took down Monteiro in the final.

Elsewhere, in men’s action, the Quebecer Charles Breton-Leduc was also competing in the under 60 kg category, but was stopped in his very first bout, falling at the hands of the American 

Aaron Kunihiro, who won with an ippon.

Three other judokas were in action on Saturday. Antoine Bouchard, Étienne Briand and Arthur Margelidon all dropped their opening fights.

In the under 66 kg class, Bouchard fell to the Austrian Georg Reiter, while in the under 73 kg division, Briand was taken out by the German Rene Schneider and Margelidon by the Italian Gesualdo Scollo.

On Sunday, Alix Renaud-Roy, in the under 70 kg category, and Guillaume Perrault (-90 kg) will take to the tatamis at the Grand Prix in Rejika.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada