Montréal, November 29th, 2013 (Sportcom) – After putting together a record of one win and one loss, the judoka Patrick Gagné finished 9^th in the under 66 kg class. It would prove to be the best Canadian result, Friday, at the Tokyo Grand Slam in Japan.

Gagné won his first match by taking down the Ukrainian Dmytro Gryn. He would then succumb to defeat versus the Japanese judoka Masaaki Fukuoka, a bout that went the distance.

“His first fight went off without a hitch, and he won easily with an arm lock,” national coach Nicolas Gill explained. “Against the Japanese, a bronze medalist at the most recent World Championships, Patrick got off to a good start and even got a lead with a shido. Unfortunately his opponent managed to score twice in the second half of the bout, and Patrick wasn’t able to keep up with him.”

Also in action on this first day of competition, Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard and Stéfanie Tremblay, both fighting in the under 57 kg division, were defeated in their very first matches, and neither received a classification. Beauchemin-Pinard lost to the eventual silver medalist, the American, Marti Malloy, while Tremblay was eliminated by the Japanese judoka, Anzu Yamamoto.

“Catherine gave up a yuko early on in the bout, and was never able to turn it around,” coach Gill elaborated. “It was still a good effort for her though, since she was went up against the bronze medalist at the London Games. It was a similar scenario for Stéfanie, who also ended up facing a very strong opponent.”

Saturday, Étienne Briand (-73 kg), Alexis Morin-Martel (-73 kg), Antoine Valois-Fortier (-81 kg) and Kelita Zupancic (-70 kg) will all be in action.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada