Montréal, July 27, 2014 — Marc Deschênes came away with top honours in the under 100 kg category and Zachary Burt climbed to the third step of the podium in the under 81 kg class, at the Judo Pan-American Open of Santiago, presented in Chile, Sunday

Deschênes, ranked 171st in the international standings in the under 100 kg, won all four of his bouts by way of ippon. The Quebecois defeated in successive fashion the Chilean Yeison Donoso, the Uruguayan Manuel Bueno, 71st in the world, the Brazilian Joao Gabriel Schlittler, 89th, and the Mexican Sergio Garcia, 48th.

His quickest victory came versus Schlittler in the semifinals. He needed just 21 seconds to take down the bronze medalist in the +100 kg division at the 2007 World Championships.

Exempted from the first round, Burt, the 95th ranked judoka in the under 81 kg, lost just one match all day long, succumbing to defeat in the semifinals. After beating the Uruguayan Alain Aprahamian by an ippon, he was defeated by a yuko in overtime by the Chilean Fernando Salazar.

In one of the two bronze medal bouts, the Ontarian, who now resides in Québec, would go on to win with another ippon, this time against the Chilean Rodrigo Idro.

In the under 90 kg catgory, the Albertan Robert Edward finished in 7th place. He won his first contest by ippon against the Argentinian Jose Peralta, but would then go on to lose twice, first in extra time versus the Spaniard David Ruiz Zajac, and then by an ippon against the Argentinian Alexis Duarte.

At the Junior European Cup of Prague in the Czech Republic, the Quebecois Ryan Proulx lost his one and only bout of the day in the under 100 kg class, falling to the Slovak Matej Hajas, who won with an ippon.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada