PORTER FINISHES FIFTH, JONES SEVENTH AT BLIND WORLD CHAMPIOMSHIPS

U S JudoJUDO: Porter Finishes Fifth, Jones Seventh at Blind World Championships
For Immediate Release
July 6, 2006

Contact: Nicole Jomantas, 719.271.9937 (cell)
Nicole.Jomantas@usajudo.us

(Brommat, France) – Myles Porter (Toledo, Ohio) turned heads at his international competition debut by finishing fifth in the 100kg division at the International Blind Sports Association World Judo Championships in Brommat, France on July 1.

Porter cruised through his first two matches, first pinning Markus Uppmann (GER) and then armbarring Arif Aslanov (AZE), picking up both wins in less than two minutes each.

In the semi-finals Porter faced his toughest competitor yet, Antonio Silva (BRA), the 2004 Athens Paralympic gold medalist. Silva threw Porter with a harai goshi (sweeping hip throw) for ippon (instant win) which put the American into the bronze medal match against William Morgan of Canada. There Porter fell behind early and Morgan threw him for ippon placing the American fifth overall.Scott Jones (Little Rock, Ark.) also had a solid tournament in his first appearance at 81kg after competing in the Athens Paralympics at 90kg. This time around, Jones went 3-2 to finish seventh overall in one of the largest divisions at the tournament.

Jones first defeated Diego Poli (ITA) by two wazaris (half point each) to Poli’s koka (smallest points). In the next round, jones pinned Claud Fernandez (ARG) just over three minutes into the match.

In his third match, Jones by ippon to Cyril Jonard (FRA) which sent him into the repechage where he beat Tae In Jang (KOR) of Korea with a beautiful throw of o uchi gari (major inner reaping) for ippon on his first attack.

Jones was looking to advance to the bronze medal match, but lost his next round to Karim Sardarov (AZE) by ippon.

Scott Moore (Englewood, Colo.) returned for his first competition following his bronze medal win in Athens, but lost after a first round bye to Maurici Briceno (VEN). Moore controlled the match earlier, but soon was down by a koka and a yuko before getting thrown for ippon. Briceno lost in the quarter-finals and couldn’t pull Moore through to the repechage.

Athens silver medalist Lori Pierce (Arvada, Colo./70kg) also had a rough event, getting pinned in both of her matches, first by Sanforne Nagy (HUN) and then by Xiuqing Zhang (CHN).

Jordan Mouton (Houston, Texas/52kg), at 17-years-old the youngster of the team, fought Russian Verornuis Mukhamadeyeva well, picking up a pair of kokas against the eventual bronze medalist.

Andre Watson (Upper Darby, Pa./90kg), a silver medalist at the 2005 Pan Ams, lost to Michael Esser (GER) in the first round and failed to advance.

On July 2, the U.S. Men’s Team finished fifth in the team event, defeating Greece and Venezuela, but falling to France and the Ukraine.

Moore returned to his usual form, posting wins in each of his four matches, including a 16-second defeat of the Venezuelan who beat him in the individual event.

Complete results and pool sheets are available at http://www.brommat2006.com/.

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