Judo-Canada's Deguchi and Heydarov of Azerbaijan win gold

PARIS :Christa Deguchi won the women's under 57kg gold to hand Canada its first ever Olympic judo title on Monday before Hidayat Heydarov of Azerbaijan disappointed a partisan crowd by triumphing in the men's under 73kg final at the Paris Games.

Current world champion Heydarov edged French underdog Joan-Benjamin Gaba with a golden score ippon in a marathon final that lasted nine minutes and 24 seconds at Champ-de-Mars Arena.

Heydarov tried multiple times to catch his breath as the bout wore on and planted a kiss on his opponent's forehead after celebrating victory.

Gaba, ranked 35th in the world and competing in his first Olympics, surprised everyone by fighting his way into the final after defeating London 2012 under-66kg gold medallist Lasha Shavdatuashvili in the round of 32.

France is still waiting for a first gold medal in the Paris judo competition.

Sarah-Leonie Cysique added a bronze medal to the host nation's haul after losing to Deguchi in the semi-final.

In the final, Deguchi took out Huh Mi-mi after the South Korean was penalised for a third time.

Huh and Canadian Deguchi were both born in Japan. Deguchi, whose mother is Japanese, competed for Japan until 2014, while Huh made the decision to compete for South Korea following the wish of her late grandmother, who was part of Japan's large Korean community.

(Editing by Hugh Lawson)