Christa Deguchi of Montreal, Quebec has won the bronze medal for Canada at the 2018 World Judo Championship in Baku, Azerbaijan. Deguchi placed third in the women’s 57 kilogram division on Saturday to become the first Canadian female ever to win a medal at the World Judo Championships.
Deguchi competed in Pool D and got a bye to the second round. There she beat Ri Hyo-Sun of North Korea, before defeating Corina Stefan of Romania in the third round and Nora Gjakova of Kosovo in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Deguchi lost to eventual gold medalist Tsukasa Yoshida of Japan before beating Theresa Stoll of Germany in the third place repechage. Nekoda Smythe-Davis of Great Britain won the silver medal, while Dorjsurengiin Sumiyaa of Mongolia won the other bronze medal.
Five Canadian men have won a medal in the history of the World Judo Championships. Doug Rogers of Truro, Nova Scotia won the bronze medal in the men’s 80 kilogram division in 1965 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Phil Takahashi of Toronto, Ontario won the bronze medal in the men’s 60 kilogram division and Kevin Doherty of Toronto, Ontario won the bronze medal in the men’s 78 kilogram division in 1981 in Maastricht, Netherlands; Nicolas Gill of Montreal, Quebec won the silver medal in the men’s 86 kilogram division in 1993 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, a bronze medal in the men’s 86 kilogram division in 1995 in Chiba, Japan and a bronze medal in the men’s 100 kilogram division in Birmingham, Great Britain; and Antoine Valois-Fortier of Quebec City, Quebec won a silver medal in the men’s 81 kilogram division in Chelyabinsk, Russia and a bronze medal in the men’s 81 kilogram division in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Gill meanwhile also made Canadian judo headlines this past weekend. He became the first Canadian inducted into the International Judo Federation Hall of Fame. In addition to his three medals at the World Judo Championships, Gill won a bronze medal in the men’s 86 kilogram division at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and a silver in the men’s 100 kilogram division at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.
