Montreal, February 23, 2018 – Jessica Klimkait, who was the only athlete representing Canada on Friday at the Dusseldorf Grand Slam, in Germany, lost her first bout and was eliminated without a ranking.

Klimkait was fighting against French Sarah Harachi in the first round, in the -57 kg category. The French judoka was able to defeat the Ontarian by waza-ari in a fight that nearly lasted 6 minutes.

Klimkait suffered from a back injury and had to take about six weeks off during the months of December and January to properly recover. It was her first competition since she came back from injury.

“Today was about getting used to the feeling of competing again. My back is healed and that’s what is important. I am not too disappointed with the way that I fought today because I feel like the main factor was my cardio and lack of training earlier in the year. I controlled the grips and moved well but unfortunately made a mistake due to a lapse of judgement in the second minute of golden score”, commented Klimkait.

“Now it is just important for me to take advantage of the training camp that is here to further my progression to getting back to my best shape”, she added.

After winning against Klimkait, Harachi lost the following round against Russian Anastasiia Konkina, who ranked fifth at the end of the day.

British Nekoda Smythe-Davis won gold in the final bout against Hedvig Karakas, from Hungary, who won the silver medal. French Sarah Leonie Cysique and Mongolian Enkhriilen Lkhagvatogoo both won bronze.

The Dusseldorf Grand Slam will continue on Saturday and Sunday, when Canadian judokas Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard (-63 kg), Kelita Zupancic (-70 kg), Antoine Valois-Fortier (-81 kg) and Zachary Burt (-90 kg) will be fighting in their respective categories.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada
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