Montréal, October 17, 2021 – François Gauthier-Drapeau had his work cut out for him at the Paris Grand Slam on Sunday. The Canadian judoka faced a tough fight against Matthias Casse of Belgium—ranked second in the world in the under-81 kg class—and finally bowed out during overtime.
For Gauthier-Drapeau, who was at his first career Grand Slam, the bout was a challenging one. He received an early penalty, and then both judokas received shidos with 24 seconds left in regulation time.
Following a few attempted attacks on both sides, Casse threw Gauthier-Drapeau to the ground to win by ippon in overtime.
“I’m somewhat satisfied because even though it wasn’t the result I was after, the fact that it was my first tournament in a long time makes me feel a bit better,” stated Gauthier-Drapeau. “I’m happy with my performance, but I also know that I fell into his trap.”
Gauthier-Drapeau’s first fight of the day was against Khalil Rebahi of Qatar. He scored a waza-ari two minutes into the bout, then followed up with a second waza-ari to clinch the victory.
“I was really stressed out at the beginning of the tournament, so winning my first match relieved a lot of the pressure I was feeling. It gave me a confidence boost [for my second bout], even though I knew there was really no comparison between my two opponents.”
Also in under-81 kg action, Constantin Gabun defeated Brazil’s Guilherme Schimidt, ranked 22nd in the world. Schimidt was disqualified after grabbing Gabun’s arm in a dangerous manner. The move injured Gabun, who was forced to withdraw from his second-round match.
Louis Krieber-Gagnon (under-90 kg) recorded one victory before losing the fight that put an end to his day. Out of the gate, he bested Tengis Batsaikhan of Mongolia with two waza-ari, then lost to Abderahmane Diao of Senegal.
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Written Sportcom for Judo Canada
Source:
Patrick Esparbès
Chief Operating Officer
Judo Canada
(514) 668-6279
p.esparbes@judocanada.org