Shady El Nahas won the gold medal U100kg at the Judo Pan-American Championships on Saturday in Lima, Peru. 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 has been coveting it for a long time, and now, he is finally wearing it.
He really wanted the gold! Shady had a great day today. He dominated from start to finish. I don’t think he was ever in any danger. He remained in control the entire time,” said coach Antoine Valois-Fortier. “The final went well. He maintained good hand positioning during the fight and followed our original game plan. He didn’t make any mistakes and he waited for the right moment to score.”
The road to the big final was not an easy one for El Nahas. He faced Peru’s Daryl Yamamoto Servan in his first match before taking on Australia’s Kayhan Ozcicek-Takagi in the semi-final. Yamamoto Servan and Ozcicek-Takagi both ended the day with bronze medals.
“He beat them pretty easily, though. Shady is proving to be pretty much untouchable on the continent. He really had a leg up on everyone,” added the coach..