World class gold for Christa Deguchi in Baku

The world number one, Christa Deguchi (CAN) claimed the gold medal at the Grand Slam in Baku U57kg just like in 2022. This time again with Olympic Champion Nora Gjakova on the podium albeit with a silver medal this time.

The poster for the final was not bad for the World Champion against the reigning Olympic champion, Nora Gjakova. Unfortunately Gjakova sustained an injury and was unable to compete in the final and therefore the gold went to double world champion Christa Deguchi.

Deguchi, who is firmly established at the top of the rankings in her weight division, has reached the big final at her last seven Grand Slams, and has won the gold medal three of those times.

The Albertan was unstoppable. “Christa is very happy to have won the gold medal. By her own admission, today wasn’t one of her best days ever, but she kept pushing, and she found a way to win each of her bouts. That she was able to beat some of the best in the world, even though it wasn’t exactly her best day, is a very good sign,” said Canadian coach Antoine Valois-Fortier.

Deguchi got off to a flying start this morning, with two quick wins against Altantsetseg Batsukh of the United Arab Emirates and Julia Kowalczyk of Poland. Things got a little tougher in the quarter-final, but she nevertheless managed to edge out Daria Bilodid of Ukraine in overtime.

“In her first two fights, Christa scored two impressive ippons very quickly. But in the quarter-final and the semi-final, she had to dig a little deeper to come out ahead. They were difficult fights in every sense, but she prevailed brilliantly,” added Valois-Fortier.

Daria Bilodid (UKR) could console herself with a bronze medal, but for having to face Julie Beurskens (NED). Beurskens had a great day; still only 19 but putting pressure on the old guard showing that her junior world medal wasn’t a fluke. She also took bronze in Kazakstan in 2023, her first WJT medal and she hoped to double it today but at the halfway point, Bilodid’s left makikomi was too strong to resist and a waza-ari was placed on the board. She followed it with another, identically, in the next exchange to win the medal. Beurskens is coming though, we can feel it.

Marica Perisic (SRB) and Eteri Liparteliani (GEO) faced each other in the second match for a bronze medal. It was an intense contest with no let up in pace or effort throughout. After half a minute if extra time, Liparteliani took a departure from the Georgian style we have come to expect and executed a beautiful de-ashi-harai to take the win.

In the Preliminaries Deguchi began her offensive festival by eliminating Altantsetseg Batsukh (UAE). After a first o-soto-gari attack from the Canadian, Batsukh collapsed on to her knees and opened the door to a dazzling uchi-mata. In the next round it was the Polish judoka, Julia Kowalczyk, world bronze medallist, who paid the price for engaging with the Deguchi tornado; she scored ippon with an incredible o-soto-gari.

In the next round, the quarter-final between Deguchi and Bilodid kept all its promises. It was the world number one who made it to the semi-final, working carefully and consistently to pass Bilodid on penalties in a very tight match and there she defeated Eteri Liparteliani (GEO), while Bilodid found the energy and motivation to win in the repechage.