Feb 11, 2018

DEGUCHI WINS CANADA’S FIRST GOLD MEDAL AT THE PARIS GRAND SLAM

Margelidon finishes 5th

Montreal, February 10, 2018 – Christa Deguchi (-57 kg) surprised everyone with a perfect day on Saturday at the Paris Grand Slam, in France. She won the final by ippon against Tsukasa Yoshida, from Japan, and won Canada’s first ever gold medal at the prestigious judo tournament.

Formerly representing Japan, Degushi started fighting for Canada last fall. This gold medal at the Paris Grand Slam is not only the first one for Canada; it also has a special signification for the athlete, who won against a Japanese opponent.

“I lost twice before against Yoshida, so this was my revenge. I am happy that I’ve won for Canada and it was really nice to hear the Canadian National Anthem after my victory. I won a tournament last week and I really wanted to win today too, so I feel good. I just changed my nationality, and I want Japan to be afraid of me. It felt really good to beat them,” said Deguchi.

The 22-year-old won by ippon against French Hélène Receveaux in the semi-final, in a very short bout that lasted 26 seconds. In the preliminary rounds, she won against Manon Durbach from Luxembourg, Youjeong Kwon from South Korea, and Timna Nelson Levy from Israel.

“For Christa this is a great result. She is the first female athlete to win the Paris Grand Slam in Judo Canada history. She finishes her European tour with two back-to-back gold medals. I believe these results will give Christa a lot of confidence for future competitions,” commented her coach, Sasha Mehmedovic.

Arthur Margelidon (-73 kg) lost in the quarterfinal against Kosovar Akil Gjakova, after winning his first 2 fights in the preliminary rounds. He had to go through repechage, where Swedish Tommy Macias won by ippon after 18 seconds. In the final for the bronze medal, Changrim An, from South Korea, also won by ippon.

Antoine Bouchard (-73 kg) and Stéfanie Tremblay (-63 kg) both had 1 victory and 1 loss. Bouchard, who finished in 17^th place, started his day by winning against Chinese Daga Qing, but then lost against Georgian Lasha Shavdatuashvili. Tremblay won her first fight by ippon against French Yasmine Horlaville before losing against Japanese Miku Tashiro, and finished in 9^th place. In the under 52 kg category, Ecaterina Guica lost her first fight and didn’t get a ranking.

-57 kg		-73 kg		Christa Deguchi wins the competition. Photo credit: Rafal Burza
1	Christa Deguchi (CAN)	1	Akil Gjakova (KOS)
2	Tsukasa Yoshida (JPN)	2	Lasha Shavdatuashvili (GEO)
3	Jisu Kim (KOR)	3	Changrim An (KOR)
3	Nekoda Smythe-Davis (GBR)	3	Tsogtbaatar Tsend-Ochir (MNG)	Arthur Margelidon against Tommy Macias, from Sweden. Photo credit: Rafal Burza
5	Timna Nelson Levy (ISR)	5	Arthur Margelidon (CAN)
5	Hélène Receveaux (FRA)	5	Igor Wandtke (GER)
7	Margriet Bergstra (NLD)	7	Tohar Butbul (ISR)
7	Telma Monteiro (POR)	7	Tommy Macias (SWE)

Pelletier 7^th and Jora 9^th in Italy

Malcom Pelletier (-60 kg) and Bogdan Jora (-66 kg) finished in 7^th and 9^th place in their categories at the Cadet European Cup in Follonica, Italy.

Pelletier won his first 3 bouts by ippon in the preliminary rounds. He lost his fourth fight against Daniel Detari, from Hungary, and went through repechage, where he won against Greek Vasileios Briolas. The Quebecois lost his second bout in the repechage against Spanish Daniel Gallego Saez.

Jora finished in 9^th place in his category. He finished his day in repechage, where he lost against Estonian Deniel Nuriev. He had 2 victories and 1 loss in the preliminary round. He won his first fight by waza-ari in the repechage, against German Tom Moritz.

Arno Blacquière (-55 kg) had 1 victory and 1 loss. Andrée-Ann Somers (-44 kg), Sarah Maloum (-52 kg) and David Teper (-55 kg) all lost in the first round and didn’t get a ranking.

-60 kg
1	Shamil Umaev (RUS)
2	Bruno Barros (POR)
3	Vache Adamyan (AUT)
3	Lennart Slamberger (GER)
5	Daniel Detari (HUN)
5	Daniel Gallego Saez (ESP)
7	Georgios Balarjishvili (CYP)
7	Malcom Pelletier (CAN)