Montreal, July 3, 2016 – Marc Deschênes made it to the second step of the podium in the Under 100 kg division at the San Salvador Pan American Open this Sunday.

A bye from the opening round, made up of six competitors, landed the Laval athlete directly in the semi-final round.

Deschênes, ranked 51^st in the world in his weight class, quickly disposed of his first opponent, Guatemala’s Armando Pineda, with an ippon. “My day started out well, with a victory in under 30 seconds,” he said.

In the fight for the gold, Deschênes succumbed to French Clément Delvert, 56^th, who managed to score a waza-ari and an ippon. “I was leading with three penalties against two, with two minutes left on the clock, but I ran out of steam and he scored twice in about 20 seconds.”

“It’s disappointing not to win a competition like this, with so few judokas, especially because the final fight was definitely within my reach. I need to find a better way to finish my fights.”

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada