Montréal, July 28, 2024 – The Paris Olympic judo events at the Champ de Mars Arena have officially begun for the Canadian team! Alberta’s Kelly Deguchi had the privilege—or rather the challenge—of getting the ball rolling for Canada against Japan’s Uta Abe, the top seed in her category, in the under-52 kg weight class on Sunday.

“Kelly got what was probably the worst possible draw of any of the categories. It was a very, very tall order,” said national team coach Antoine Valois-Fortier.

Photo : Leah Hennel/COC
Kelly Deguchi

Despite the loss, there was a lot for Deguchi to be proud of in her performance. It took 56 seconds for her opponent, four-time world champion and reigning Tokyo Olympic champion, to take control and clinch the match by ippon.

“She lost to an athlete who is much stronger than she is, so I don’t think she should have any regrets about this experience,” explained former Olympian Valois-Fortier

Although the judoka from Alberta had to face the crème de la crème at her first Olympics, it was not the first match-up for the two athletes. At the Antalya Grand Slam in Turkey in March 2024, Abe defeated Deguchi by ippon in seven seconds.

“Kelly had fought her twice before, and those bouts were much shorter than today’s. The fact that she put in her best performance [against Abe] on such an important day is a victory in itself,” said the coach.

“Yesterday, I felt a bit stressed about being the first Canadian to compete in judo, but when I got here, I was happy about it. The noisy crowd made it such a great experience. I’m going to hold onto it for the rest of my life,” said Deguchi, who had left the tatamis in tears after her match against 24-year-old Abe.

Abe, who had held a perfect record since 2019, was eliminated in the round of sixteen by Uzbekistan’s Diyora Keldiyorova, the current and two-time runner-up world champion.

The Canadian team will be back in action on Monday. Christa Deguchi will compete in the under-57 kg class, and Arthur Margelidon will compete in the under-73kg class.

“I think tomorrow is going to be a good day! We have a good chance to win some medals in the next couple of days. We just have to do things right, and take it one step at a time. We’ll start with the weigh-ins, we’ll do a good warm-up, and we’ll take it one bout at a time,” concluded the coach, who is clearly feeling confident and looking forward to watching his team’s upcoming performances.

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Written by Sportcom for Judo Canada

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Patrick Esparbès
Chief Operating Officer
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p.esparbes@judocanada.org