The day after the bronze medal won by Ontario’s Jessica Klimkait in the under 57 kg table of the Grand Slam of Hungary, François Gauthier-Drapeau had the chance to imitate him, he who had carved out a place for himself in a of the two finals for bronze in the under 81 kg table.
Posted at 6:22 p.m.
The athlete from Alma (Quebec), however, lost by waza-ari against the Emirati Nugzari Tatalashvili to finish in fifth place, Saturday, in Budapest.
“It’s a bit heartbreaking. I had a good fight, but I couldn’t win. It’s a bit disappointing. There are still some elements of my day today that I’m proud of, so there’s still something positive in that. […] My coach (Antoine Valois-Fortier) told me that I fought well for 3 minutes 50 seconds and it was one 10 seconds where I scored a point that was enough to cost me the victory. »
Tatalashvili entered the scoring after about 90 seconds when he knocked down the Quebecer who was not fully in control in his fall. Gauthier-Drapeau did not slow down thereafter and it was rather a forced break of several minutes that cut his momentum so that Tatalashvili could be treated with one finger.
On the restart, the Canadian was energetic in the last minute, except that his opponent prevented him from scoring to secure his place on the podium.
Earlier, in the repechage, Gauthier-Drapeau got the better of the Moldovan Nicon Zaborosciuc by waza-ari.
It was his defeat at the hands of the Brazilian and eventual gold medalist in the category, Guilherme Schmidt, in the quarter-finals, which relegated him to the repechage.
“The last time we met, I beat him,” continued Gauthier-Drapeau. That too was a bit heartbreaking to lose to a guy I knew I could beat. He won the gold medal, so I can take some comfort in that. »
In his other fights, the Quebecer got the better of the Italian Tiziano Falcone and the Kazakh Barak Arkabay, two victories signed by waza-ari.
François Gauthier-Drapeau has already won two bronze medals in Grand Slam tournaments since the beginning of his career and he knows that his exclusion from the podium is not in check for all that.
“It’s still a good result and it was my first Olympic selection tournament, so a fifth place gives me points. So I’m still happy. »
Still in the under 81 kg draw, Mohab El Nahas (Ontario) was defeated by ippon in overtime in his first fight of the day when he faced Frenchman Nicolas Chilard.
Extensions that hurt Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard
Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard (-63 kg) ended her day with a record of one win and two losses, good for seventh place.
The Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist saw her day end in the repechage round following her overtime loss to Cuba’s Maylin Del Toro Carvajal.
Earlier Saturday, the Longueuilloise defeated the Mongolian Gankhaich Bold before dropping the flag against the Polish Angelika Szymanska, also in overtime.
No Canadians will be in action on the mats on Sunday and the national team will head to Zagreb to take part in a Grand Prix stop.