Montréal, July 26, 2014 (Sportcom) Patrick Gagné, Arthur Margelidon, Etienne Briand and Stéfanie Tremblay all came away with medals in Chile on Saturday. All four Canadians climbed onto the podium at the Pan-American Open presented in Santiago.

Gagné (-66 kg) came away with the best result on the men’s side, thanks to a victory over the Brazilian Daniel Santos. He put together a perfect record en route to the finale. He also defeated the Chilean Juan Pablo San Martin, as well as Brazilians Vinicius Sakamoto Leal and Thelmo Gomes.

Simon Gaudreault, also competing in the under 66 kg class, came away with a 5^th place finish.

Tremblay won gold in the under 57 kg division. In the finale, she got the better of American Hana Carmichael. In the semis, she took down the Colombian Yadinys Amaris and defeated Ambar Gutierrez in the prelims.

In the under 73 kg category, Arthur Margelidon excelled with a silver medal performance. He was defeated in the grand finale by the Brazlian Joao Macedo. On his road to the gold medal match, he took down the Mexican David Tevera, the American Adam Moyerman and his fellow countryman David Ancor.

Briand took home a bronze medal after beating fellow Quebecer Alexis Morin-Martel. Briand began his day with a victory over the Chilean Alvaro Cabello followed by a defeat at the hands of Canadian David Ancor. In the repechage, he got the better of American Adam Moyerman.

Ancor fell in one of the two bronze medal bouts, succumbing to defeat versus the American Everet Desilets.

Erin Morgan (-48) was eliminated in her very first bout, falling at the hands of the Colombian Luz Alvarez.

Ana Laura Portuondo Isasi wins bronze

On the last day of the judo tournament at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Ana Laura Portuondo Isasi (-78 kg) won one of the two bronze medals available in her class. She came up short in the semifinal against the Welshwoman Natalie Powell, but managed to get back on track with a dominating win in the repechage over the Seychellois Brigitte Rose. In the preliminary round, she defeated the Indian Jina Devi Chongtham.

“For me, the Commonwealth Games act in part as a preparatory tourney for the upcoming World Championships in Miami.  I’m happy with all the matches I won, particularly the bronze medal bout, which lasted just 30 seconds. I won by an ippon. I was not expecting such a short contest. I’m disappointed by the bout I lost, though. I analyzed the errors I made with my coach, and realized that I still have work to do,” the Quebecoise judoka commented.

Sophie Vaillancourt (+78 kg) saw her day come to an end in the repechage, where she fell to the Indian Rajwinder Kaur. In the prelims, she received a bye before coming up short versus the Mauritian Annabelle Laprovidence.

Martin Rygielski (+100 kg) also succumbed to defeat in the repechage, falling to the Welshman Mark Shaw. Before reaching that stage, he had obtained a bye before losing to the South African Ruan Snyman.

Tough outing for Canadian contingent in Prague

Mahmoud Ossama (-55 kg) recorded the best result for the junior Canadian judokas at the European Cup presented in Prague, Czech Republic. He reached the repechage where he lost to the Czech Vaclav Zemla. He was awarded a bye in the first round, and then went on to lose to the Pole Marek Wawrzkiewicz.

Patrick Cantin (-73) lost his one and only bout of the day, falling to the German Peter Czybulka. His teammate Bradley Langlois (-73) was dealt the same fate versus the Czech Frantisek Smehlik.

In the under 66 kg class, Gueorgui Poklitar benefitted from a bye through the first round, but succumbed to defeat in his opening match against the Russian Vladimir Konovalov.

Philippe Desjardins, also competing in the -66 kg category, lost his opening match to the German Philipp Leon.

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By Sportcom for Judo Canada