Montreal, March 26, 2017 – Louis Krieber-Gagnon and Marc Deschênes both stepped up to the second place spot on the podium Sunday at the Pan-American Open in Lima, Peru. Mina Coulombe and Jean-François Ouellet were awarded bronze medals.

Competing in the U90 kg category, Krieber-Gagnon scored an ippon against Brazil’s Thiago Chiodi, then went on to score a waza-ari against Argentina’s Tomas Spikermann in the semi-final. The Montrealer’s only defeat came at the hands of Brazil’s Gustavo Assis, who won the final by waza-ari.

Deschênes had similar results in the U100 kg group. The Laval resident started out strong in his early matches against Peru’s Kevin Vidal Solano and Angola’s Casimiro Bento, winning both by ippon, but was stopped in the final by Chile’s Thomas Briceno, who also won by ippon.

“My day started off well with an immobilization on the ground. My bout against the Angolan was more complicated. He was able to score very quickly, but he slowed down a lot after the first two minutes and I was able to make him take three penalties. I made a mistake partway through my final match and my opponent was able to score a big ippon. Before that, it had been going pretty well. I made a mistake and two seconds later, the bout was over,” summarized Deschênes.

“It’s disappointing because I needed a first place finish in at least one of the South American competitions to meet carding criteria for next year, but I finished second at all three tournaments.”

In U78 kg action, Mina Coulombe also recorded two victories. The judoka from Baie-Comeau lost by waza-ari to Argentina’s Lucia Cantero, scored an ippon against Peru’s Xsara Morales Falconi, and got in two waza-aris in her bronze medal bout against Brazil’s Melina Scardua.

Jean-François Ouellet began his run in the +100 kg competition with a victory by ippon over Chilean Francisco Solis, but subsequently lost by the same score to Argentinean Hector Campos in the semi-final. In his bronze medal face-off, the judoka from Sept-Îles beat American Ajax Tadehara by ippon.

Olivier Gobeil-St-Amand finished fifth in the U81 kg group. The Champlain native won his first bout in the preliminary rounds and lost his second. In the repechage, he ousted Chilean Fernando Salazar by ippon before bowing out to Romanian Vlad Visan, who won the bronze medal by scoring an ippon.

Also in U81 kg competition, Jérémie Poirier of Sainte-Julie didn’t get past his first round.

A First for Canada in Bremen

Canada’s judokas won two gold medals and a bronze in the 21-and-under age group at the International Masters Tournament in Bremen, Germany on Sunday.

“Canada was the only country to win two gold medals today. If we look at the gold medal count for the entire weekend, France placed first, Germany second, and Canada third. It’s the best finish our country has ever had at this tournament,” enthused coach Jean-Pierre Cantin.

Gabriel Juteau (U66 kg) finished the preliminary rounds with a perfect record of four victories. He eliminated his opponent in the quarter-final and dispatched of Kazakhstan’s Zhankozha Marat in the semi-final. In his gold medal bout, he showed Germany’s Michel Adam the door.

“I’m really proud, I competed well today and I couldn’t be happier. I’ve been coming to this tournament for a long time so I’m glad to finally win a medal. I kept my concentration and my control over my opponents. I had to keep moving and stay aggressive in the final so that my adversary couldn’t get the upper hand. I took advantage of every opportunity I had today,” commented the Longueuil resident.

Shady El Nahas (U100 kg) had already recorded four wins by the time he made it to the final: three in the preliminary rounds and one against France’s Mohamed Rouahi in the semi-final. In his final match, he overcame Denmark’s Mathias Madsen to win gold.

“I couldn’t leave Germany without the gold medal. I already won a gold medal in the 18-and-under group and a silver in the 21-and-under. I was able to win today’s gold medal bout quickly because of my hips. I use them a lot; they’re my secret weapon,” stated the Torontonian, who is currently in his second year in the juniors.

It was a bronze medal day for Alma’s François Gauthier-Drapeau (U73 kg). He came out swinging in the qualifying rounds, winning all four of his bouts, but was unable to keep his perfect record in the quarter-final against Russia’s David Gamosov. He won his two matches in the repechage and ended the day with a victory over Germany’s Kilian Ochs.

Kevin Gauthier (+100 kg) placed fifth. The judoka from Asbestos had an early loss but came back in the repechage to win his two combats. In the bronze medal final, he was defeated by Germany’s Daniel Messelberger.

Alex Marineau (U81 kg) finished in seventh place. The Pincourt native racked up three wins and one loss in the preliminary rounds. In the repechage, he recorded one win and one loss.

Also competing today were Christian Dametto (U55 kg), Aidos Sapenov (U55 kg), Dontea De Jesus (U60 kg), Vincent Miran (U60 kg), Philip Dion (U66 kg), Julien Frascadore (U66 kg) David Wu (U66 kg), Aiden Skaf (U73 kg), Maxim Côté (U81 kg), Benjamin Kendrick (U90 kg), Dawson Mandel (U90 kg), and Yohan Chouinard (U100 kg), but none of them ranked.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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