Montreal, May 8, 2015 – Some days are best left forgotten, and today, Friday, has been one of them for Quebec judokas Ecaterina Guica and Patrick Gagné, who both were defeated in their first matches at the Baku Judo Grand Slam in Azerbaijan.

Guica – world-ranked 32^nd in the Under 52kg class – saw her day on the tatami end courtesy American Angelica Delgado, ranked 21^st internationally. The Montreal native received two penalties, versus her adversary’s single penalty.

Delgado was beaten in her next bout against Brazilian Erika Miranda, who is ranked third in the world and was the eventual gold medal winner of today’s Grand Slam events.

Patrick Gagné – 21^st internationally in the Under 66kg category – was eliminated by Portugal’s Sergiu Oleinic, world-ranked 37^th. The athlete from Baie-Comeau fell victim to his opponent’s ippon.

However, Oleinic’s winning ways came to a stop in the second round.

“Unfortunately it was a really short day for Team Canada on the tatami today (Friday). We’re hoping to have a better day tomorrow (Saturday),” commented team Coach Sasha Mehmedovic.

Five Canadians will be on the tatami in Baku: Stéfanie Tremblay (Under 63kg), Monika Burgess and Alix Renaud-Roy (both in Under 70kg), as well as Arthur Margelidon and Alexis Morin-Martel (Under 73kg).

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada