Despite a very tight loss in repechage, Kelly Deguchi showed that she was on the right track on Sunday at the Grand Slam in Tokyo. The Canadian competed in -52 kg and finished her tournament with a record of two wins and two losses, earning her a seventh-place finish.
“Kelly had a good day, one of her best of the season and she can be very proud of it,” said national team coach Antoine Valois-Fortier.
“In the end, even if I didn’t get on the podium, I’m happy with my result. I saw several points on which I can work and thanks to that, I will come back stronger at my next competition”, shared Kelly Deguchi.
The judoka began her tournament by winning by ippon against Gaukhar Irmagambetova of Kazakhstan. The one who was silver medalist at the Commonwealth Games this summer came back to the charge in the next round. She had the upper hand over the Mexican Paulina Martinez after scoring two waza-ari.
“I think I had a good start. In my first two fights, I was able to impose my style of judo successfully,” added Deguchi.
“She unlocked her floor work and she was super efficient. It’s always been one of his strengths, but for some reason Kelly didn’t take advantage of that strength in competition. Today, she knew how to do it well,” explained Valois-Fortier.
The confrontation was more difficult against the Japanese Ai Shishime, world champion in 2017 and 2021. The latter scored two waza-ari in the first minute to send Deguchi to the repechage. Shishime headed for the second step of the category podium later in the day.
The Canadian then faced the South Korean Jang Seyun and an extension was necessary. It was finally Seyun who won by ippon after more than six minutes of combat.
“Kelly came very close to taking her opponent to the ground several times. After a long fight, in extra time, the South Korean scored with a forward technique. It was very tight on penalties, Kelly had the best chances, but her opponent attacked a little more often to win,” said the coach.
Also in action on Sunday in the Japanese capital, Kyle Reyes was limited to one fight in the under 100 kg category.
Opposed to Frenchman Aurélien Diesse, the Ontarian saw his opponent take the lead after two minutes, but he quickly tied the game afterwards. Diesse scored an ippon in overtime and eliminated the world runner-up.
“He was not an obvious opponent. After a great summer, it was kind of predictable that Kyle couldn’t be on top every time. We are now directing our energy towards the Masters, in two weeks,” concluded Antoine Valois-Fortier.