Four Canadians won medals at the Pan American Judo Championships recently, including one gold medal.
Shady El Nahas, succesfully defended his Pan American under-100 kilogram title by defeating Brazil’s Rafael Buzacarini in the final.
El Nahas got to the final after he defeated fellow Canadian, Kyle Reyes in the semifinals and Reyes managed to win a bronze medal after he defeated American Nathaniel Keeve.
While talking about his triumph, El Nahas said: “I’m really happy with this medal, which should help me move up in the international rankings.
“I really wanted to defend my title, and this is the first time I’ve won gold medals at the same tournament twice in a row. This is a really big day for me,”
Also, two other Canadians, Zachary Burt and Marc Deschenes won bronze medals at the tournament.
Burt defeated fellow Canadian Mohab El Nahas in the under-90kg to book his third-place finish while Deschenes, defeated Ecuador’s Freddy Figueroa in the over-100kg category to claim his bronze medal.
Burt said: “It felt great to be competing again, but this definitely wasn’t my best day physically. I had some trouble in each of my bouts, but I’m glad to have made the podium.”
Canada won seven medals at the championship and ranked second after Brazil. Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard, Ecaterina Guica, and Antoine Bouchard won gold medals in their respective events.
