Montreal, January 20, 2018 — Even though none of the Canadian athletes competing on Saturday at the Tunis Grand Prix, in Tunisia, were able to come away with a ranking, Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard (-63kg) and Alix Renaud-Roy (-70kg) were happy with their performance in their own categories.

Beauchemin-Pinard started the day with an ippon victory against Sofia Belattar from Morocco. She then lost against Tina Trstenjak, from Slovenia, who ended up winning the gold medal.

“I did well in general. The fight against the Slovene, who’s the Olympic champion, was pretty tight. I lost with three shidos, because I had some difficulties with my technique. She was moving a lot,” said the athlete from Saint-Hubert.

Beauchemin-Pinard noted that she switched to the -63kg category during fall. “I still have to get used to it. That fight proved me I’m still in the race, because I’m fighting against the best athletes in this category. I’m simply missing a little something. Every time I fight, I get better and I feel more confident.”

In the same category, Stéfanie Tremblay, from Saguenay, lost her first fight. Japan’s Aimi Nouchi won by ippon, and ultimately won the silver medal.

Alix Renaud-Roy, in the -70kg category, had a two-phased day. She first won against Chadian Demos Memneloum after only 47 seconds before losing against Netherlander Kim Polling. Both her fights were won by ippon.

“I felt good on the mat. The first fight was very quick. I started with an arm lock. For the second fight though, I was against the Netherlander, who ended up winning the gold medal today. I had a good start, but I quickly had a few shidos. I get out of this with some positive elements,” said Renaud-Roy.

On Friday, Montreal’s Gueorgui Poklitar lost his only fight of the day by waza-ari against Walide Khyar, from France. He didn’t get a ranking.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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