Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard takes home bronze in Korea

Montréal, December 6^th, 2012 (Sportcom) – Québecoise judoka Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard came away with a third place finish, Thursday, at the Jeju World Cup in South Korea. Competing in the under 63 kg category, the 18-year-old athlete registered the best result of her career in senior World Cup competitions.

“I’m extremely pleased,” Beauchemin-Pinard attested, after being eliminated in the very first round of the Tokyo Grand Slam last week. “I wanted to recharge quickly and do my best this week, and I pulled it off!”

Thursday, the judoka won her first bout versus the South Korean Jeyoung You by scoring a yuko. “It was a long, tough battle, but I managed to win in the end!  My conditioning really helped me and I stayed patient. I didn’t rush my attacks and made sure not to many any key mistakes,” Beauchemin-Pinard, who was facing You for the first time, explained.  “I feel that that was the reason the bout took so long. I didn’t know her very well so I had to be much more on my guard.”

Having qualified for the semifinals, she took on the Mongol Mungunchimeg Baldorj, who would go on to defeat her by ippon. “When she attempted a sweep move, she hit my head at the same time and I fell. This allowed her to immobilize me,” Beauchemin-Pinard explained, as well reassuring us on her state of health. “ I have a nice little bruise, but luckily no concussion.”

“I was feeling confident, but the bout didn’t last long enough, so I didn’t have time to try many attacks. It’s the biggest disappointment of my day, because I wasn’t able to go 100% all out, right till the end,” the judoka added.

Two Canadians duked it out for the same bronze medal.  Beauchemin-Pinard took on the Ontarian Monika Burgess. Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard would eventually come out on top, winning by ippon. “It wasn’t the first time that we faced each other. The last time she beat me, and believe me, I was not happy, Beauchemin-Pinard pointed out.  At the beginning of this bout I was a little stressed because I really didn’t want to lose, but in the end things turned out quite well.”

“She’s bigger than me, and I knew what I had to do to beat her, she went on to explain.  It was crucial that I stay patient.”

Earlier in the day,  Monika Burgess, who would go on to finish 5^th in the competition, began her day with a loss to the South Korean Ji-Hye Myung in the first round, before imposing her will with a victory in the repechage over Da-Woon Joung, also from South Korea.

In the under 57 kg class,  Stéfanie Tremblay would also end her day with a 5^th place classification. After winning her first round bout, she was beaten in the semifinals by the Japanese judoka Tsukasa Yoshida. The Quebecoise would then be denied in the bronze medal bout, coming up short versus the South Korean Jin-Sun Kim.

On the men’s side, Patrick Gagné (-66 kg) and Alexis Morin-Martel (-73 kg) finished 7^th in their respective divisions. Both judokas registered one victory and two losses on the day.

Audrey Francis-Méthot (-52 kg), Antoine Bouchard (-66 kg) and Arthur Margelidon (-73 kg) did not receive a classification.

The Jeju World Cup ends Friday in South Korea. Canadians Alix Renaud-Roy (-70 kg), Sarah Mazouz (-70 kg) and Kyles Reyes (-100 kg) will all be in action.

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