Canada’s Beauchemin-Pinard, Gauthier Drapeau lose judo repechage matches

PARIS – Canadian judoka Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard fell short of a chance to equal her bronze medal from the Tokyo Games when she lost a women’s under-63 kilogram repechage match to Kosovo’s Laura Fazliu on Tuesday at the Paris Olympics.

Fazliu moved on to a bronze-medal match when she scored a waza-ari, or half point, against Beauchemin-Pinard in sudden-death overtime.

Earlier, the 30-year-old Beauchemin-Pinard from Saint-Hubert, Que., lost to Slovenia’s Andreja Leski in overtime in the quarterfinals to take her out of contention for a gold or silver medal.

Beauchemin-Pinard, the world No. 2 in the discipline, had a bye into the Round of 16.

On the men’s side, François Gauthier Drapeau, of Alma, Que., lost to Belgium’s Matthias Casse, the current world champion, in a men’s under-81 kg repechage match. Casse scored a waza-ari in overtime to win the fight.

Canada won its first Olympic judo title on Monday with Christa Deguchi’s gold-medal win in the under-57 kg competition.

It was also Canada’s first gold medal of the Games.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 30, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.