Christa Deguchi strikes gold in Turkey to open Antalya Grand Slam – Team Canada – Official Olympic Team Website
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Kulumbegashvili Tamara/IJF
It was a strong start to the weekend for Team Canada judokas in Antalya, Turkey, headlined by Christa Deguchi’s gold medal win in the under-57 kilogram event on Friday.
The Lethbridge native won the final bout over Jessica Lima of Brazil, winning in overtime after jumping on the early offensive to put herself in the winning position.
Capturing her second title of the year on the IHF Grand Slam circuit and 10th of her career, the 28-year-old defeated Austrian Laura Kallinger before going on to beat Guinea’s Mariana Esteves, South Korea’s Juhee Kim and France’s Faiza Mokdar on her way to the final.
It’s been a solid start to the year for Deguchi, who hopes to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics, having won the event in Baku, Azerbaijan, in February in a final walkover when her opponent, Kosovo’s Nora Gjakova, withdrew due to injury.
Canadian athletes’ success continued into Saturday’s second day of competition, with 26-year-old François Gauthier-Drapeau battling his way to a silver medal in the men’s under-81 kilogram event. This marked his seventh career podium and best-ever finish at a Grand Slam event.
After defeating three opponents through pool competition, Gauthier-Drapeau went on to defeat neutral athlete David Karapetyan in the semifinal before falling to Japan’s Takanori Nagase in the final bout.
“I’m delighted to have reached the final! Despite the loss, I think I put up a very good fight. I followed the game plan, and it went well. It was a close call,” Gauthier-Drapeau said. “I was completely drained when I got to the final! It was a big achievement and an important step to win my semi-final, and I can already feel that something has clicked for me. I was more aggressive than in my last tournaments going for projections, and it paid off.”
Meanwhile, in the women’s under-52 kilogram, Deguchi’s younger sister, Kelly Deguchi, qualified for her pool final before missing out on the final four with a loss to Japan’s Uta Abe, prior to losing in the opening round of the repechage round to Uzbekistan’s Sita Kadamboeva.
Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard, currently ranked the world’s top judoka in the under-61 kilogram category, punched her ticket to her pool final as well, but fell to Croatia’s Katarina Kristo, forcing her into the repechage rounds, where she then lost to Austrian Magdalena Krssakova.
With the Antalya Grand Slam event wrapping up on Sunday, the world tour soon moves on to Dushanbe, Tajikistan from May 3-5, the penultimate Grand Slam event before the World Championships in Abu Dhabi from May 19-24, and the Paris 2024 Olympic competition from July 27- August 2.
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