U S Judo JUDO: Rousey and Lee Win Pan Am Juniors in Colorado Springs

U S JudoJUDO: Rousey and Lee Win Pan Am Juniors in Colorado Springs
For Immediate Release
April 14, 2006
Contact: Nicole Jomantas, 719.271.9937
Nicole.Jomantas@usajudo.us


(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Ronda Rousey (Buffalo Grove, Ill./63kg) and Bobby Lee (Lauderhill, Fla./North Miami USA Judo National Training Site/73kg) each added another title to their judo resumes with gold medal wins at the Pan American Junior Championships, held Friday at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

Rousey, an Athens Olympian and 2004 Junior World Champion, drew a first round by before defeating Maria Perez (DOM) by ippon (instant win) in the semi-finals, first going for a throw and then moved into a pin to end the match in less than a minute.

Rousey’s next match nearly ended within seconds of the start as she quickly put Amanda Macedonia (BRA) in her trademark armbar. An astonishingly flexible Macedonia managed to avoid tapping out and then match continued as Rousey scored two yukos (quarter-point) and then pinned her for the win.

Just as when she last won this event in 2004, Rousey also received the Female Junior Outstanding Competitor Award.

Lee, who was voted Most Inspirational Male Athlete opened his day first with a bye followed by a quarter-final match against Arturo Zapata (VEN). Lee won the match on a pair of shidos (penalties) to advance to the semi-finals.

“My first match against Venezuela was probably the toughest,” Lee said. “He was really strong and just kept coming at me. He never really got tired.”

In the semis, Lee had an easier time, defeating Pablo Almeida (URU) by ippon in 41 seconds.

Lee held his finals opponent, Hector Campos (ARG), nearly scoreless in the final, scoring a yuko with a leg pick and adding a koka with on a pin with just over a minute remaining. Lee scored a second koka 20 seconds later to guarantee the win. As the clock ran down, Campos scored a koka off of Lee’s penalty, but the American still claimed the win.

“I’m happy with how I fought today,” Lee said. “Last year I finished fifth and so this kind of erases things. I think this time I had a better day and just fought better.”

Nicki Schultheis (Gurnee, Ill./Gurnee Judo/52kg) won her second consecutive silver medal at the Pan Am Juniors, going undefeated en route to the final where she wsas thrown by Cristina Ortega (ECU) with o uchi gari (major inner reaping) for yuko.

Marina Shafir (Latham, N.Y./Judo America/78kg) and Aaron Shiosaki (Lomita, Calif./Gardena Judo Club/+100kg) also won silver medals in their round robin division.

Three athletes from the Jason Morris Judo Center each walked away with bronze medals.

Jeremy Liggett (Scotia, N.Y./60kg) was considered by many to be a medal favorite going into this event, but lost his opening match to Jose Romero (ECU) as he got caught with a throw for ippon in the final four seconds.

Liggett came back to advance through the repechage and threw Oliver Masse (CAN) in the bronze medal match with an o soto gari (major outer reaping) for the win.

AJ Silverman (Scotia, N.Y./66kg) threw Armando Ortiz with an o soto gari/harai (sweep) combination off of a pick up for ippon.

Yuko Sin (Scotia, N.Y./81kg), the third JMJC athlete to medal Friday, went 2-1 on the day to win a bronze medal with a final win by waza-ari (half-point) over Anibal Espinoza (VEN).

Katie Sell (Oshkosh, Wis./Welcome Mat Judo/70kg), Brittni Bradford (Land O’Lakes, Fla./St. Pete Judo/+78kg), Andre Taylor (Plano, Texas/Becerra Judo/55kg) and Jacob Larsen (Santa Rosa, Calif./Redwood Coast Judo Club/90kg) each won bronze medals in their round robin divisions.

Complete results are as follows:

Junior Outstanding Judoka
Women: Ronda Rousey (Buffalo Grove, Ill/Cohen’s Judo)
Men: Jean-Philip Gagnon (CAN)

Junior Ippon Trophy
Women: Maria Rojas (VEN)
Men: Juan Postigos (PER)

Junior Most Inspirational Judoka
Women: Emilie Claude Leroux (CAN)
Men: Bobby Lee (Lauderhill, Fla./North Miami USA Judo National Training Site)

Women’s Team Trophy
1. Brazil
2. Venezuela
3. USA

Men’s Team Trophy
1. Canada
2. Brasil
3. USA

Junior Overall Grand Champion
1. Brazil
2. Canada
3. USA

Women’s 44 kg
1. Lorrayne Costa, Brazil
2. Juliet Medrano, Venezula

Also competed Cassandra Bezoski (Amherst, Ohio)

Women’s 48kg
1. Luz Alvarez, Colombia
2. Silvia Arteaga, Venezuela
3. Lolita Dagher, Canada
3. Fabiana DeOliveira, Brazil

Women’s 52kg
1. Cristina Ortega, Ecuador
2. Nicki Schultheis (Gurnee Ill/Gurnee Judo)
3. Maria Garcia, Dominican Republic
3. Eve Renauld-Roy, Canada
5. Raquel DaSilva, Brazil

Women’s 57kg
1. Catherine Moraes, Brazil
2. Zarina Beilacowicz, Argentina
3. Chelcie Doherty, Canada

Women’s 63kg
1. Ronda Rousey (Buffalo Grove, Ill/Cohens’s Judo)
2. Amanda Macedonia, Brazil
3. Maria Perez, Puerto Rico
3. Angelica Varela, Venezula
5. Cynthia Kelpin, Canada
5. Laura Plaza, Argentina

Women’s 70kg
1. Maria Rojas, Venezuela
2. Emilie-Claude Leroux, Canada
3. Katie Sell (Oshkosh, Wis./Welcome Mat Judo)
3. Taciana Pinto, Brazil

Women’s 78kg
1. Maria Althman (BRA)
2. Marina Shafir (Latham, N.Y./Judo America)
3. Isabelle DeSchamps (CAN)

Women’s +78kg
1. Rochele Nunes, Brazil
2. Edith Alvarez, Venezuela
3. Brittni Bradford (Land O’Lakes, Fla./St. Pete Judo)

Men’s 55kg
1. Ivan Sabina, Brazil
2. Emmanuel Bolea, Argentina
3. Douglas Urdaneta, Venezuela
3.. Andre Taylor (Plano, Texas/ Becerra Judo)
5. Leancio Torres, Mexico

Men’s 60kg
1. Juan Postigos, Peru
2. Luis Reunit, Brazil
3. Jose Romero, Ecuador
3. Jeremy Liggett (Scotia, N.Y./Jason Morris Judo Center)
5. Oliver Masse, Canada

Men’s 66kg
1. Jean Filipe-Gagnon, Canada
2. Benito Neto, Brazil
3. AJ Silverman (Scotia, N.Y./Jason Morris Judo Center)
3. Ricardo Valderama, Venezuela
5. Armanda Ortiz, Mexico
5. Fausto Bivieca, Dominican Republic

Men’s 73kg
1. Bobby Lee (Lauderhill, Fla./North Miami USA Judo National Training Site)
2. Hector Campos, Argentina
3. Arturo Zapata, Venezuela
3. Pablo Almeida, Uruguay
5. Pedro Castro, Colombia
5. Lee Mata, Mexico

Men’s 81kg
1. Maxime Tremblay, Canada
2. Marcelo DeSauza, Brazil
3. Alexis Chiclana, Puerto Rico
3. Yuko Sin (Scotia, N.Y./Jason Morris Judo Center)
5. Walter Coronel, Argentina
5. Anibal Espinoza, Venezuela

Men’s 90kg
1. Robert Edward, Canada
2. Leandro Goncalvez, Brazil
3. Isaac Timaure, Venezuela
3. Jacob Larson (Santa Rosa, Calif./Redwood Judo)
5. Jaime Casanova, Dominican Republic

Men’s 100kg
1. Teofilo Diek, Dominican Republic
2. Luis Amezauita, Venezuela
3. Lemair Thierry, Canada
3. Gustavo Calalheri, Brazil

Also Competed: Zane Malloy (Oak Harbor, Wash./NAS Whidbey Island Judo)

Men’s +100kg
1. Rafael Silva, Brazil
2. Aaron Shiosaki (Lomita, Calif./Gardena, Calif.)
3. Ben Noji, Canada

For more information, contact Nicole Jomantas, USA Judo Director of Communications and Media Relations, at 719.271.9937 or Nicole.Jomantas@usajudo.us.

Fonte: http://www.sportsfeatures.com/