Montréal, March 14th, 2015 – Étienne Briand won the bronze medal in the under 73 kg category on Saturday during the judo Pan American Open in Montevideo, Uruguay. During his last bout, the athlete from Sept-Îles won by ippon against the Finn Eetu Laamanen.

On his way to the podium, Briand has defeated the American Alexander Turner and his Canadian teammate David Ancor before losing against the Brazilian Eduardo Barbosa, who ended up winning the gold medal.

“It’s pretty good! I fought well, but I have a small regret,” said the bronze medalist. “In the semi-final, I was leading with a yuko and I had 2 penalties with only 30 seconds left, and it made me lose the bout. I don’t think I deserved 4 penalties. Let’s say it was a bit of a stretch.”

“As soon as I scored, I knew I couldn’t rest on my laurels because I already had 2 penalties. I’m still satisfied with my performance. I shouldn’t have given the referees a chance to make the difference.”

In the same category, David Ancor finished 5^th. After losing against Briand, Ancor still kept fighting until one of the finals for the bronze medal, during which he lost against the Russian Alim Gadanov. Still with the under 73 kg, Arthur Margelidon lost his only bout of the day.

In the under 66 kg, Antoine Bouchard finished with a record of 2-2. He first won 2 bouts before losing during the semi-final against the Spanish David Ramirez Ramos, who won the silver medal. During the final bout for the bronze medal, he lost against another Spanish, Gar Uriarte, in overtime.

Also fighting with the under 66 kg, Gueorgui Poklitar lost his only bout of the day and walked away without a classification.

Youssef Youssef (1-1) didn’t achieve ranking either in the under 60 kg category.

On the women’s side, Ecaterina Guica was the best Canadian with her 7^th place finish in the under 52 kg category. During her first bout, the Montreal judoka won against the Argentinian Jesica Rao. In the next round, she won against the Russian Natalia Kuziotina, who ended up winning the gold medal. During repechage, she lost against the Brazilian Eleudis Valentim, who won the bronze medal.

Stéfanie Tremblay and Béatrice Valois-Fortier, both fighting in the under 63 kg, lost their first bouts and didn’t achieve ranking.

The tournament will conclude on Sunday.

Three bronze for the juniors in Portugal

Also on Saturday, the Canadian team won 3 bronze medals during the Junior European Open in Coimbra, Portugal. Jessica Klimkait (-57 kg) and Darren Elcock (-60 kg) both finished with a record of 4 victories and 1 loss, while Patrick Cantin (-73 kg) had 5 victories and 1 loss.

During the final bout for bronze, Klimkait won against her teammate, Mackenzie Burt, who finished in 5^th place.

In his only loss of the day, Cantin lost in overtime against the British William Johnson. Cantin then came back in full force and won by ippon against the German Thomas Gubert.

Elcock lost in the semi-final against the future gold medalist, British Peter Miles. Elcock ended the day with a victory against the Portuguese Jao Abreu.

Other Canadian results

Women

-48 kg:

No ranking, Marie Besson, 0-1

-57 kg:

No ranking, Brette Poliakiwski, 0-1

Men

-60 kg:

9^th, Anthony Pépin, 2-2

No ranking, Yassin Youssef, 0-1

-66 kg:

9^th, Gabriel Juteau, 1-2

No ranking, Jasmin Boisvert, 1-2

-73 kg:

No ranking, Bradley Langlois, 2-1

No ranking, Dante St.Prix, 0-1

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada