Montreal, May 1, 2015 – Day One of the Croatian Grand Prix in Zagreb, finished earlier than expected for Canadian judokas. Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard, Antoine Bouchard and Ecaterina Guica were all eliminated in their first bouts, today, Friday.   

In the Under 52kg class, Guica – world ranked 32^nd – was defeated by Spain’s Laura Gomez (15^th in the world).

“My match started really well – I feel like I should have won it, that it was within reach. I lead with a waza-ari and yuko, but I had too many penalties at the last minute and that’s what lead me to ultimately lose the bout,” commented the Montreal-region athlete. “I honestly didn’t feel that great with jet lag, some weight loss, and having been in three competitions within a week. I’m really tired and just ran out of energy. Next week I’ll try to do better,” added Guica.

Beauchemin-Pinard, from Saint-Hubert (Quebec) was on the tatami in the Under 57kg category. The Quebecois judoka is currently ranked 9^th in the world, but fell to Britain’s Nekoda Smythe Davis (world-ranked 26^th) due to penalties.

In Men’s judo, Antoine Bouchard – PanAmerican Champion in the Under 66 kg class – took advantage of a pass out of the opening round. Bouchard (world-ranked 13^th) then lost his first match of the day against Israel’s Baruch Shmailov (75^th internationally). 

Saturday, Stéfanie Tremblay (Under 63kg), Kelita Zupancic (Under 70kg), and Alix Renaud-Roy (Under 70kg) will be the athletes to watch on the tatami.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada