Gold Medal Bodes Well for World Championships

Montréal, May 10, 2024 – On her way to winning the gold medal in the under-57 kg category today, Christa Deguchi was perfect in all five of her bouts at the Almaty Grand Slam in Kazakhstan. The 28-year-old capped her day off on Friday with a victory in the big final over Brazil’s Rafaela Silva, who received three shidos during the clash.

Photo IJF
Rafaele Silva, Christa Deguchi, Sarah-Léonie Cysique and Haruka Funakubo

In late April, Deguchi lost to the same Silva in the final of the Pan-American and Oceania Championships, in a match that lasted over nine minutes. But today in Almaty, the Canadian exacted her revenge.

“Christa fought very well. She and the Brazilian often compete against each other, and I think Christa is very happy to have won this time. She was very dominant, which forced her opponent to cheat a bit, and therefore receive those penalties. Christa’s stance was great, her hand placement was very good, and she attacked at the right times,” explained Canadian coach Antoine Valois-Fortier.

For Deguchi, the match against Silva also held particular significance, as she is currently preparing for the World Championships and the Paris Olympics. Silva currently sits in seventh place in the under-57 kg world rankings, while the Canadian holds the top spot, just ahead of her compatriot Jessica Klimkait.

“I think the fact that she’s looking so confident and dominant just a few days ahead of the Worlds, and a few weeks from the Olympics, is a great sign. She’s fought some tough athletes, and she’s ready for her next challenges,” added Valois-Fortier.

This was the second consecutive Grand Slam gold medal for Christa Deguchi, who also won in Antalya, Turkey, in March.

To secure her spot in today’s final, Deguchi defeated Haruka Funakubo of Japan in the semi-final. Just as with Silva, she won after her opponent received three penalties.

Earlier in the tournament, the Albertan had ousted Ozlem Yildiz of Turkey, Pihla Salonen of Finland, and Maysa Pardayeva of Turkmenistan in back-to-back bouts.

In the under-52 kg weight division, Kelly Deguchi was limited to one match on Friday, which she lost to Maria Siderot of Portugal, who finished the tournament in fifth place.

On the men’s side, Julien Frascadore (-66 kg) ended the day with a record of one win and one loss, just as he did at the Dushanbe Grand Slam last week. This time, the Québécois edged out Walide Khyar of France in his first bout of the day, before bowing out to Kamran Suleymanov of Azerbaijan, who later won a bronze medal.

“[Khyar] won a medal at the most recent World Championships, so I think this was one of the sweetest victories of Julien’s career! But unfortunately, he was knocked out in the next round. It started well, but [Suleymanov] took an opportunity to score an ippon,” concluded the coach.

The Almaty Grand Slam will continue until Sunday, but no other Canadians are registered to compete there this weekend. The Canadian team will be back in action at the World Championships, from May 19 to 24.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada

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Patrick Esparbès
Chief Operating Officer
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p.esparbes@judocanada.org