Montréal, February 17, 2018 – Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard ranked in 5th position in the -63 kg category at the European Open in Rome, Italy.

Beauchemin-Pinard is hoping for a podium next week
Photo credit: Rafal Burza

She won her first bout of the day by ippon against Italian Martina Greci before losing by ippon in the second round against French Maëlle Di Cintio, who went on to win the gold medal.

“Catherine’s day today didn’t go as she had hoped, but she managed to gain some valuable experience. In her second round, she made a tactical error against the French fighter and lost in the last seconds of the match,” commented her coach, Sasha Mehmedovic.

Beauchemin-Pinard had to go through repechage, in which she quickly made it clear for her opponent, Italian Anna Righetti, that she wouldn’t lose another fight.

The judoka from Saint-Hubert won by ippon after only 21 seconds, a result that sent her to the bronze medal fight.

She was against another Italian, Edwige Gwend, who won the bronze medal by ippon, placing Beauchemin-Pinard in 5th place.

“For bronze she lost her focus and got caught in a choke against the Italian player. She will learn from the mistakes she made today and try to climb on the podium next weekend at the Düsseldorf Grand Slam,” added Mehmedovic.

Quick elimination for Canadians in Austria

During the European Open in Oberwart, in Austria, in the -73 kg category, Warren Seib and Bradley Langlois both had 1 victory and 1 loss, while Jacob Valois and Antoine Bouchard both lost by waza-ari during their first bout. None of them got a ranking.

Seib first won his fight against German Martin Setz in the first round before losing by waza-ari against Lukas Reiter from Austria.

Langlois won against Naim Matt from Switzerland in the first round, but was defeated by Kazakh Zhanbolat Bagtbergenov in his second bout.

Same story in Spain

Arno Blacquière and David Teper, both fighting in the -55 kg category in the Cadet European Cup in Fuengirola, in Spain, both lost during their third bout of the day.

Blacquière first won by ippon against Israeli Dean Katalan Tagansky and Portuguese Nuno Martins before losing in the third round against British Artur Patemian.

Teper was defeated by Spanish Alexis Aznal Santaren after winning by ippon against Swedish Leo Gruber and by waza-ari against Portuguese Goncalo Oliveira.

Malcom Pelletier (-60 kg), Bogdan Jora (-66 kg) and Justin Lemire (-66 kg) all ended with 1 victory and 1 loss.

On the women’s team, Andrée-Ann Somers (-44 kg) and Sarah Maloum (-52 kg) were eliminated after the first round.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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