Canadian day in Doha U57kg with Deguchi back with gold

It was a prolific day for Canada at the World Judo Championships in Doha. The Canadian team earned two medals on Tuesday in Doha, Qatar. Christa Deguchi became the U57 kg world champion once again, having won her first title four years ago. In the same weight class, Jessica Klimkait won bronze for the second year in a row.

Deguchi maintained control throughout her final bout against Haruka Funakubo of Japan, quickly ousting her opponent in a fight that lasted less than ninety seconds. First, she scored a waza-ari by knocking her opponent onto her backside. A few moments later, she threw Funakubo onto her back for an ippon.

“It’s been a great day! We have two athletes on the podium and another who came very close. It’s all very positive, and I hope we’ll see more of the same in the next few days,” said national coach Antoine Valois-Fortier.

Deguchi is an athlete who doesn’t show a lot of emotion, but as she left the mats and was congratulated by her coach, she couldn’t keep the smile from her face.

“Christa was nervous at the beginning of the day, but as the day progressed, she seemed more and more at ease, and she topped it all off in a spectacular final, where she dominated her opponent from start to finish. In that moment, she really showed us her best judo!” explained Valois-Fortier.

In the semi-final, 27-year-old Deguchi disposed of Mongolia’s Enkhriilen Lkhagvatogoo, the only athlete who had succeeded in defeating Klimkait on Tuesday after almost four minutes of overtime in the quarter-final. Lkhagvatogoo also ended the day with a bronze medal.

Klimkait regained the road to victory in the repechage, where she defeated Sarah Leonie Cysique of France in overtime. Her bronze medal bout against Hasret Bozkurt of Turkey was decided much more quickly. The Ontarian scored a waza-ari forty seconds into the fight, following up with an ippon on the ground ten seconds later.

Today’s bronze medal is Klimkait’s second at the World Championships. She won her first last year, and was crowned world champion in 2021.

“Although I came here wanting more, I’m glad to know that I’m consistent from year to year. I went into the bronze medal match with the intention of laying down my own tempo, my own attacks and my own style,” said the Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist.

“One of Jessica’s strengths is that she’s always looking for ways to improve, and she already had a few solutions in mind (after her quarter-final loss) for her upcoming fights,” explained her coach.