Montréal, June 14, 2014 — Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard, Audrée Françis-Méthot, Stéfanie Tremblay, Étienne Briand, Antoine Bouchard and David Ancor all came away with medals on Saturday, at the Pan-American Open presented in San Salvador.

Quebecers Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard and Antoine Bouchard were the big winners of the day, both climbing to the top step of the podium.

Competing in the under 57 kg category, Beauchemin-Pinard benefitted from a bye through the first round. She then went on to defeat the Costa Rican Karina Tapia, the Israeli Camila Minakawa and the American Marti Malloy. In the grand finale, she would go on to claim gold versus the Austrian Sabrina Filzmoser.

Meanwhile, Bouchard went to work in the under 66 kg class. He would go on to beat in successive fashion the Brazilian Vinicius Sakamoto Leal, the Belgian Jasper Lefevere, the American Austin Cook and the Belgian Kenneth Van Gansbeke to come away with the gold medal.

“I was pretty happy after I won because it’s my very first medal in an international world cup competition. It was almost a relief, even. The fact that it’s a gold medal is just icing on the cake. I’m really happy,” Bouchard said.

“My most difficult match of the day was the semifinal against the American because I didn’t really know much about him. All that I knew was that he was going to be physical. I decided to stay patient and wait for him to make mistakes. When he did, I took full advantage,” he added.

“I think that what made the biggest difference today was that I followed my coach’s game plan to a tee. It really helped me perform at my best,” Bouchard underlined. I didn’t make a major error in any of my bouts.”

Fellow Quebecers Étienne Briand and Audrée Françis-Méthot both managed to come away with silver medals on the day.

In the under 48 kg division, Françis-Méthot defeated in order the Salvadorian Lesly Hernandez, the Israeli Shira Rishony and the American Nadine Encarnacion. She would unfortunately come up short in the finale, falling to the Mexican Edna Carrillo.

As for Briand, he would fall in the gold medal match of the under 73 kg class to the American Everet Desilets. He qualified for the finale by defeating in succession the Salvadorian Alberto Arevalo, the American Alexander Turner and the Brazilian Mauro Henrique Moura.

Also in the under 73 kg category, another Quebecer, David Ancor, took down the Brazilian Stanley Torres to claim one of the two bronze medals up for grabs. He got off to a good start with a win in his first bout. He would go on to lose his next match against the Brazilian Mauro Henrique Moura, but would turn things around in the repechage with a win over the American Alexander Turner.

Another Quebecer, Stéphanie Tremblay, would also make her way on to the podium, claiming a 3rd place finish in the under 57 kg class. She won her first two fights against the Salvadorian Fatima Rivas Lopez and the American Hana Carmichael. Despite losing in the semifinals to the Austrian Sabrina Filzmoser, she would bounce back in the bronze medal bout, beating the Israeli Camila Minakawa.

In the under 66 kg division, the Quebecer Patrick Gagné lost in his one and only match, falling to the Portuguese Andre Soares.

In the under 60 kg category, Charles Breton-Leduc won his first bout against the Ecuadorian Cristhian Toala, but would go on to be eliminated by the eventual bronze medalist, the Brazilian Allan Kuwabara.

On Sunday, the Canadians taking to the tatamis will include, on the women’s side, Monika Burgess (-70 kg), Ana Laura Portuondo Isasi (-78 kg), Alix Renaud-Roy (-70 kg), Catherine Roberge (-78 kg) and Kelita Zupancic (-70 kg), as well as Zachary Burt (-81 kg), Brandon Jobb (-90 kg), Scott McGrandle (-81 kg) and Antoine Valois-Fortier (-81 kg) on the men’s side.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada