n the heels on the cadet and junior tournaments, the Montréal Pan-American Open senior tournament opened on Saturday at the Centre Pierre-Charbonneau. The Canadian delegation rapidly made its presence felt on home turf, with 14 of its athletes on the podium by the end of the day, including three who were decorated in gold.

A finger injury did not prevent Heidi Quach from claiming the top spot in the under-48 kg category, just as she did at last year’s Pan-American Open in Montréal. This time, the Québécoise defeated Malia Manibog of the USA by waza-ari in the big final.

“It went really well! I had a bit of trouble with my grips because of my injury, but once I succeeded in holding my opponent down on the ground for a waza-ari, I was able to slow down and control the rest of the bout,” explained Quach, who earlier had edged out Kaycie Tanimoto, also of the USA, in the semi-final, when Tanimoto received a third penalty.

“I injured myself two weeks ago, and I had to miss the Quebec Open in order to prioritize the Pan-American Open. I have trouble closing my hand, and I had to be careful all day today, but I nevertheless felt confident. I knew I’d be able to execute my techniques, follow my coach’s advice, and perform well,” added the gold medallist.

Quach was accompanied on the podium by her teammate Angelina McCristall, who won a bronze medal in the same category. In her final fight of the day, McCristall, of Ontario, edged out Elizabeth Sanikidze of Alberta to capture the first medal of her career at this level.

In the under-52 kg weight division, all four medals were won by Canadians. Evelyn Beaton of Alberta defeated Valeria Kostrovets in the big final to claim the top spot on the podium, while Sarra Bourihane and Dasha Tkachenko ended the tournament with bronze medals.

British Columbia’s Carla Van Zyl, who won gold in the junior tournament two days ago, was back on the podium on Saturday, this time sporting bronze in the under-57 kg category after defeating Hayden Thibeault of New Brunswick in her final bout of the day.

In the under-63 kg competition, Manitoba’s Sarah Ekosky, who won her first two fights of the day, advanced to the gold medal final, where she bowed out to Karlee Carrouth of the USA and secured silver.

Six more medals for the men

The Canadian team saw great success on the men’s side as well, as demonstrated in the under-66 kg final, which pitted compatriots Luka Tsatsalashvili and Daniil Kremerman against each other. Tsatsalashvili had the last word in the hotly contested match.

“The final was really hard! Kremerman is a really strong athlete who has experience competing at the international level. It was hard to fight a judoka whose style is similar to mine,” said the winner. “We both had ups and downs during the fight. I hurt my shoulder early on, but I pushed through and won the bout.”

Thanks to his five wins today, Luka Tsatsalashvili earned his first-ever medal at a senior Pan-American Open. He is particularly proud of having defeated Ari Berliner of the USA, who, over the course of his career, has competed in 15 Grand Slams, as well as three Senior World Championships.

“I’m one of the youngest people in this division, and my fight against Berliner was really difficult, but I was able to counter him, score a waza-ari, and win the match,” said the 18-year-old judoka, proudly.

Justin Lemire advanced to the under-73 kg final on Saturday, where he lost to Ireland’s Joshua Green and finished on the second step of the podium, as he did at the Pan-American Open in Santiago last May.

Lemire won all three of his bouts leading up to the final. He ended the event in Montréal with a silver medal for the second year in a row.

Félix Mercier-Ross won bronze in the same category after defeating Yanis Hachemi. The other bronze medal was awarded to Fahd Fithane, who got the better of Damien Ekosky.

Ontario’s Aidos Sapenov collected a bronze medal after beating Felipe Dacruz of Lebanon in the under-60 kg category. After being relegated to the repechage, he came out of the tournament with a record of three wins and one loss.

The action will continue on Sunday at the Centre Pierre-Charbonneau.

For the complete results, click here.