It was a terrific weekend for Canadian judokans this past weekend in Tbilisi, Georgia, as Team Canada came away with four medals, including two gold medals. Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard of Montreal, Quebec won gold in the women’s 63 kilogram-division, Shady El Nahas of Montreal, Quebec won gold in the men’s 100-kilogram and under division, Arthur Margelidon of Montreal, Quebec won silver in the men’s 73-kilogram division, and Christa Deguchi of Lethbridge, Alberta won bronze in the women’s 57-kilogram division.
In the women’s 57-kilogram division on Friday, Deguchi won Pool A with wins over Jovana Rogic of Serbia, Jessica Pereira of Brazil, and Arleta Podolak of Poland. She then lost to Eteri Liparteliani of Georgia in the semifinal, before beating Marica Perisic of Serbia in the Repechage to win bronze. Nora Gjakova of Kosovo won gold, Liparteliani won silver, and Daria Mezhetskaia of Russia won the other bronze medal. Deguchi is currently ranked third in the world behind Jessica Klimkait of Whitby, Ontario, and Tsukasa Yoshida of Japan.
In the women’s 63-kilogram division on Saturday, Beauchemin-Pinard won Pool A with wins over Helene Wezeu Dombeu of Cameroon, Gili Sharir of Egypt, and Szofi Ozbas of Hungary. She then beat Daria Davydova of Russia in the semifinals and Junxia Yang of China in the gold medal final. Yang won the silver medal, while Geke Van Den Berg of the Netherlands and Davydova each won the bronze medal. For Beauchemin-Pinard, who is sixth in the world, it was her second career Grand Slam gold medal. The first came in Tyumen, Russia, in 2014.
In the men’s 73-kilogram division on Saturday, Margelidon won Pool A with wins over Phridon Gigani of Georgia, Salvador Cases Roca of Spain, and Murodjon Yuldoshev of Kazakhstan. Margelidon then beat Denis Iartcev of Russia in the semifinals, before losing to Tsogtbaatar Tsend-Ochir of Mongolia in the gold medal match. Aleko Mamiashvili and Las Shavdatuashvili, each of Georgia won the bronze medal. Margelidon is currently fifth in the world.
In the men’s 100-kilogram and under division on Sunday, El Nahas won Pool C by beating Eri Hemubatu of China, Mert Sismanlar of Turkey, and Grigori Minaskin of Estonia. El Nahas then beat Muzaffarbek Turoboyev of Uzbekistan in the semifinals and Ilia Sulamanidze of Georgia in the gold medal match. Toma Nikiforov of Belgium and Turoboyev each won bronze. It was El Nahas’s first career grand slam gold medal, who is now seventh in the world.
