Montréal, September 11, 2022 – Two Canadians captured medals at the Santo Domingo Pan-American Open in the Dominican Republic on Sunday. Alexandre Arencibia won silver in the under-90 kg category, while Coralie Godbout defeated her teammate Mina Coulombe in the under-78 kg group to secure bronze.

In the grand final, Arencibia was pitted against Robert Florentino of the Dominican Republic, who won by ippon with 2:45 left to go in the match.

“I feel pretty good. It’s not the result I had hoped for, but I know what I have to work on in the coming week to try to win gold in Colombia in two weeks,” he explained.

The Montrealer ousted Daniel Arancibia of Chile in the first round, then went on to defeat Daniel Paz Albarracin of Colombia in the semi-final.

“I was stressed at the beginning of the day, but it was a good kind of stress! I felt confident in my ability to make it to the final.”

Ian Ryder finished just short of the podium on Sunday. He began with a victory over Haiti’s Billy Mondestin in the under-100 kg weight division, but lost to Colombia’s Francisco Balanta in the semi-final. He then battled Chile’s Thomas Briceno for bronze in a fight that went into Golden Score. After 58 seconds of overtime, the Canadian received a third penalty and had to concede defeat.

In the under-81 kg group, Jeremie Blain recorded one win and two losses.

Coralie Godbout has the last word

It was an all-Canadian battle for bronze between Coralie Godbout and Mina Coulombe in the under-78 kg category . The two judokas know each other well, so the match was a tight one. With only 57 seconds left, Godbout scored an ippon to claim the third spot on the podium.

Laurence Biron also fought for bronze in the under-70 kg group, but lost to Ireland’s Rachael Hawkes and finished fifth. Earlier, she had defeated Isabella Garriga of the USA and Katherine Otano Pina of the Dominican Republic, before bowing out to Cuba’s Idelannis Gomez Feria in the semi-final.

In the same weight class, Alicia Fiandor won in the first round, but finished the day with a record of two losses.

The Canadian delegation also had a strong showing on Saturday in Santo Domingo. Julien Frascadore won silver in the under-66 kg group, while Justin Lemire (-73 kg) and Isabelle Harris (-63 kg) both captured bronze.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada

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