Christa Deguchi back in the Tour in style

Canadian former World Champion Christa Deguchi returned at the Grand Prix Zagreb for her first international tournament in 2022 and she claimed the gold, following her compatriot Jessica Klimkait in Budapest. At this weight and they are called to meet face to face in Tashkent. Deguchi managed to win the final against Georgia’s Eteri Liparteliani. The champion had not set foot on the podium since April 1, 2021, when she won gold in Antalya.

Having returned to competition just a few months ago, Deguchi did not hold back in her grand final bout against Georgia’s Eteri Liparteliani. Deguchi deflected a manoeuvre by her opponent before launching an offensive. After her first three attempts were thwarted by Liparteliani, Deguchi managed to throw her to the ground to win by ippon, one minute and 52 seconds into the fight.

“I’m glad to be back on the podium. It’s been a long time since I won a gold medal!” she stated. “I feel like I fought better than I did in my last competition, in Turkey, in April. Now I’d like to maintain my momentum, and I’m looking forward to the Commonwealth Games, which are coming up in a few weeks, and the World Championships this fall.”

Deguchi began her day on Friday with a win by ippon over Arleta Podolak of Poland. In her next two matches, she defeated Veronica Toniolo of Italy and Mina Libeer of Belgium, both in overtime.

In the semi-final, the Canadian dispatched of Slovenia’s Kaja Kajzer in less than 70 seconds. The scene was thus set for her victory in the final.

Her younger sister Kelly Deguchi faced a tough challenge early in the day in the U52 kg class. She was eliminated by Japan’s Uta Abe, current Olympic champion, who later won the gold medal in Zagreb.

Eteri Liparteliani is undoubtedly the most famous woman in judo in Georgia and the one who has achieved, on her own merits, that people no longer only talk about Georgian judo in masculine terms. At the moment she is number four in the world and has won two bronzes, in the European Championships and in Tbilisi. She arrived in Zagreb wanting to party, the same one that the Cuban Arnaes Odelín García had. The Cuban scored waza-ari first, headed steadily to the final and had everything under control until Liparteliani had a stroke of genius and scored ippon with just a few seconds left.

The last two medals of the day went to Belgium and Mongolia. Mina Libeer who was good all day, defeated Odelín García by ippon and Ichinkhorloo Munkhtsedev did the same against Kaja Kajzer.

Timna Nelson Levy has so much consistency and showed it again in Zagreb. She is one of the greatest exponents of the Israeli women's team, which based on effort, normally doesn’t leave any tournament without medals, but in Zagreb she finished seventh.

The champion had not set foot on the podium since April 1, 2021, when she won gold in Antalya.