Team Canada continued their success in international judo this past weekend at the Grand Prix in Budapest, Hungary.The Canadian squad came away with four bronze medals–three on the women’s side and one on the men’s side. Ecaterina Guica of La Prairie, Quebec won bronze in the women’s 52 kilogram division, Christa Deguchi of Montreal, Quebec won bronze in the women’s 57 kilogram division, Kelita Zupancic of Whitby, Ontario won bronze in the women’s 70 kilogram division and Arthur Margelidon of Montreal, Quebec won bronze in the men’s 73 kilogram division.
In the women’s 52 kilogram division, Guica beat Kalpana Devi Thoudam of India and Odette Giuffrida of Italy in Pool C play before losing to Natsumi Tsunoda of Japan. In the repechage, Guica beat Angelica Delgado of the United States and Gili Cohen of Israel to win bronze.
In the women’s 57 kilogram division, Deguchi beat Zouleiha Abzetta Dabonne of the Ivory Coast and Jovana Rogic of Serbia before losing to Rafaela Silva of Brazil. In the repechage, Deguchi beat Amelie Stoll of Germany and Nae Udaka of Japan to win bronze.
In the women’s 70 kilogram division, Zupancic went undefeated in Pool D as she beat Chantal Wright of the United States, Alice Bellandi of Italy and Assmaa Niang of Morocco. She then lost to Sanne Van Dijke of the Netherlands in the semifinal before beating Anna Bernholm of Sweden in the repechage final for bronze.
In the men’s 73 kilogram division, Margelidon went undefeated in Pool D as he beat Lincoln Nieves of Brazil, Arata Tatsukawa of Japan and Frigyes Szabo of Hungary. He then lost to Miklos Ungvari of Hungary in the semifinal before beating Giovanni Esposito of Italy in the repechage final for bronze. The bronze medals for Deguchi, Zupancic, Margelidon and Guica will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
