El-Nahas gold caps six-medal haul in Pan American and Oceanian Judo Championships
Team Canada’s judo squad was at the top of their game over the Easter weekend at the Pan American and Oceanic Championships in Lima, Peru. Canada took home six medals overall, including a gold in the 100kg class by Shady El-Nahas.
Three medals on Day One
The haul started on Friday with Team Canada winning a pair of bronze, thanks to the efforts of Kelly Deguchi and Antoine Bouchard. Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard added a different colour to the collection as she took home silver for Canada.
READ: Beauchemin-Pinard’s rise to 63 kg allows him to climb the podium at Tokyo 2020
After defeating Mexico’s Paulina Martinez to advance to the finals, Deguchi faced off with Panama’s Kristine Jimenez in the bronze medal game. Coming away with a medal now, Deguchi adds another Pan American Championship medal to her resume after winning bronze in 2021.
Similarily to Deguchi, Bouchard’s path to the podium ran through a recharge match where he faced off against Columbia’s Arkangel Barboza. After defeating Barboaza, Bouchard advanced to the bronze medal game where he defeated Brazil’s Daniel Cargnin. His bronze medal marked the 60th of his career and his first since November of 2020.
As for Beauchemin-Pinard’s silver medal, she downed USA’s Alisha Gilles and Cuba’s Yusmari Reyes Laffita on her way to the final. She would be met by Australia’s Katharina Haecker, who would go on to secure the gold medal.
El-Nahas grabs gold in 100kg category
Canada closed out the Pan American and Oceanian Judo Championships with a dominant performance by the prolific Shady El-Nahas.
El-Nahas performed flawlessly in his three fights of the day, wrapping up with a victory over Brazil’s Rafael Buzacarini in the gold medal final.
“He beat them pretty easily… Shady is proving to be pretty much untouchable on the continent. He really had a leg up on everyone,” said coach Antoine Valois-Fortier via judoinside.com.
It’s the first Pan American and Oceanian Judo Championships for El-Nahas, who finished fifth in the 100kg category in Tokyo 2020.
Étienne Briand and François Gauthier-Drapeau each won their bronze medal matches in the 81kg category, which allowed them to share the third step of the podium. They were bested by the Brazilians Gilherme Schmidt, who won gold, and Vinicius Panini who took home silver.
