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Judo's Rousey Wins British Open
Team USA Takes Four Medals on Day 1 |
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LONDON, England - Ronda Rousey (Wakefield, Mass. / NYAC / Pedro's Judo Center / 63kg) took her fourth European title during the past year with a gold medal at the British Open in London on Saturday (January 27).
Rousey reeled through her first two matches with little problem, winning both by ippon (instant win) to advance to the semifinal against Sarah Clark (GBR). The last time the two met Rousey was a 17-year-old at the Athens Olympic Games. The youngest athlete in the judo competition, Rousey picked up a win over Clark en route to her ninth-place finish.
Although the two haven't fought since, both rapidly ascended the world rankings. Rousey, 19, is the fourth-ranked athlete in the world while Clark won last year's European Championships to move up to sixth. The match was one of the best battles in the women's division all day as both players fought strategically and neither was able to produce a score sending the match into Golden Score (overtime).
The back-and-forth attacks continued for just more than a minute before Rousey threw Clark with a drop o uchi (dropping leg throw) to win the match by a koka (smallest points).
"All three of my first matches were straight in a row. I think I was done by 9:30 or 10 this morning and then I didn't fight the final until 3:30," Rousey said. "They only seed the British players at this one, so I knew there was about a 50/50 chance I'd draw Sarah before the final, but actually it was better to have that match earlier in the day because then you get it over with instead of sitting around and waiting and worrying about it for hours and hours."
OTHER MATCHES
Rousey's teammate Kristen Allan (Springfield, Va. / Sport Judo) also advanced to the medal rounds. Allan defeated Connie Ramsay (GBR) in the first-round and lost to Hannah Wahlberg (SWE) in the quarter-finals. After picking up two wins by ippon in the repechage, Allan lost to Clark in the bronze medal match to finish fifth.
Michael Eldred (Fruitland, Idaho / Western Idaho Judo Institute) was the Team USA's top finisher on the men's side, earning a silver medal at 73kg - his first at a Senior B-Level event. After winning his first four matches, including defeating 2006 U.S. Open Champion Bobby Lee (Coral Springs, Fla. / North Miami USA Judo National Training Site) in the quarter-finals, Eldred lost to 2005 Champion Matthew Purssey (GBR) in the finals. Purssey had previously beat Senior Nationals silver medalist Radu Brestyan (Wakefield, Mass. / Team FORCE) in the semifinals. Brestyan came back to win the bronze, throwing Joost Vandermade (BEL) for ippon with a kata guruma (fireman's carry) less than two minutes into the final. Vandermade had advanced to the bronze medal match after throwing Lee, who finished seventh overall, for a yuko.
Justin Flores (Glenville, N.Y. / Jason Morris Judo Center / San Shi), the former top-ranked player in the U.S. at 66kg, returned to Europe for the first time in nearly two years this weekend and was quickly greeted with the unenviable task of fighting through three matches in the repechage to advance to the bronze medal round. After a first-round bye, Flores was thrown for ippon with a sode (sleeve lifting pulling hip throw) in his first match by Jean-Rene Badrick (GBR), who also beat Flores in the U.S. Open. After his trio of wins in the repechage, Flores came back from a deficit of two yukos to throw Diogo Cesar (POR) with an o soto gari (outer leg throw) to win bronze.
Other U.S. results included the following:
• Nick Kossor (Glenville, N.Y. / Jason Morris Judo Center) went 1-1 in the men's 60kg division, losing to 2005 U.S. Open Champion James Millar (GBR) by ippon.
• Taylor Takata (Harlingen, Texas / Harlingen USA Judo National Training Site), a 2005 British Open bronze medalist went 2-2 in the 66kg division.
• Nate Torra (El Cerrito, Calif. / East Bay Judo Institute) lost in the first round by ippon in the 66kg division to Daniel Luxford by ippon after being down by a yuko (quarter-point).
• Two-time 2006 World Cup medalist Ryan Reser (Colorado Springs, Colo. / Olympic Training Center USA Judo National Training Site) won his first match in the 73kg division against Elliott Stewart (GBR) by ippon in just over a minute. After being up by a yuko in his next match, Reser was given two shidos (penalties) against Daniel Harper (GBR), including one with six seconds left in the match. Reser was penalized again during the Golden Score period and lost the match. Reser's opponent lost his next match to eventual British Open Champion Matthew Purrsey (GBR) sankaku (triangle hold).
• Chuck Jefferson (San Jose, Calif. / San Jose State University) lost in the first round of the 73kg division.
• AJ Silverman (Glenville, N.Y. / Jason Morris Judo Center) also went 0-1 at 73kg.
• In the women's 70kg division, Kayla Harrison (Middletown, Ohio / Renshuden) lost to Gemma Gibbons (GBR) in the first round. Harrison won her first match and lost her next in the repechage to finish 1-2.
• Although the U.S. had three competitors in the seven-person women's 78kg division, none advanced to the semifinals in a pooled division where the top two athletes from each of two pools advanced to the semifinals. Asma Sharif (Wakefield, Mass. / Team FORCE) went 1-2 in her pool with her win coming over fellow American Lisa Uemura (Salinas, Calif. / Salinas Judo) who went 0-3. Junior World Team member Marina Shafir (Latham, N.Y. / Jason Morris Judo Center) went 0-2 in the other pool.
• Brittni Bradford (San Antonio, Texas / Universal Judo) lost both of her matches in the women's heavyweight division to Ronda Sturley (GBR) and Ashley Fleming (GBR) and did not advance out of her pool.
QUOTES
"We got lot of good feedback from the coaches of many of the other countries on the camaraderie of the team. They all said that the U.S. really looked like a team and competed like a team rather than just individuals," said Jimmy Pedro (Wakefield, Mass.), 1999 World Champion and coach of the USA Judo Elite U-23 Team that produced two of the day's four medals. "I think we really stood out with our success so far at this tournament, and we're looking forward to tomorrow."
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