Coach Sasha Mehmedovic expressed his satisfaction in seeing one of their athletes win a gold medal. Antoine’s tactical skills allowed him to dominate his opponents throughout the day, leaving no room for anyone to surpass him. The coach believes that this victory will boost Antoine’s confidence, particularly after undergoing shoulder surgery.In the final match, Bouchard quickly took control and aggressively attacked Mexico’s Eduardo Araujo. Bouchard secured a victory and the gold medal with an ippon in just 53 seconds.During his initial match, Bouchard only needed 27 seconds to secure a win against Maikor Yefri Louis Pierre from the Dominican Republic. In the following round, he defeated Jose Geronimo, who was also from the Dominican Republic.The Canadian athlete won two consecutive matches against Anderson Pol Guelle from the Dominican Republic and Elmert Ramirez, which allowed him to move on to the final round for the gold medal. Unfortunately, he was defeated by Orlando Polanco from Cuba, causing him to miss out on his chance for a gold medal.Julien Frascadore from Quebec, competing in the -66 kg weight category, advanced to the finals but ultimately had to settle for the silver medal due to receiving three penalties during the match on the tatami.Antoine Bouchard had a perfect performance on Saturday at the Pan American Open held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The athlete from Quebec faced no threats in his four matches and easily secured first place in the Under 73 kg category.The Canadian coach expressed his happiness for Isabelle and praised her excellent performance today. He acknowledged that Isabelle didn’t require much to make it to the grand final, but her hard work and fighting spirit earned her the bronze medal.Bouchard’s initial challenge came in the semifinals when he faced off against Colombian competitor Andres Sandoval. The two judokas were evenly matched throughout the bout, with neither gaining a significant advantage until the final minutes. In the end, Bouchard managed to force Sandoval into committing a third fault with only 11 seconds remaining on the clock, securing his spot in the grand final.Mehmedovic remarked that Julien had a successful day, displaying strong fighting skills throughout the competition. However, during the final match, he may have overexerted himself by becoming overly aggressive in overtime. Despite this setback, Mehmedovic is confident that Julien will be able to defeat the Cuban opponent again in the future, as he has done so in the past.Isabelle Harris secured a place on the podium in the women’s judo competition for the Under 63 kg category by winning a bronze medal. She received a bye in the first round and went on to defeat Creymarlin Valdez from the Dominican Republic to progress to the semi-finals. Harris is from Montreal.A fellow Canadian athlete, Justin Lemire, also made an impression in the same division as Bouchard. Lemire won his first two matches of the day but was defeated in the semi-finals by Araujo. Despite this setback, the 22-year-old persevered and came back to win the bronze medal match against the crowd favorite, Antonio Tornal.Harris was defeated in her following match by Anriquelis Barrios from Venezuela, who went on to win the silver medal. Nonetheless, Harris bounced back and won her bronze medal match against Edith Ortiz from Ecuador with two waza-aris, similar to her teammate Justin Lemire.Mario Cordones from Panama and Lenin Preciado from Ecuador received three penalties each during their bouts with Frascadore. Frascadore had already received two penalties during the match. These penalties helped the Canadian to move forward towards his goal of winning a medal.
