Member News
October 11 , 2006
Junior Worlds Day 1 Preview
(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Jeanette Rodriguez (Margate, Fla. / North Miami USA Judo National Training Site / 48kg), Franchesca Durand (Coral Springs, Fla. / North Miami USA Judo National Training Site / 52kg) and Aaron Shiosaki (Lomita, Calif. / Gardena Judo / +100kg) will be the first athletes from Team USA to compete at the Junior World Championships when the event kicks off Thursday in Santo Domingo.
Draws for all 14 weight divisions were conducted Wednesday evening and preliminary competition begins at 12:30 p.m. local time on Thursday.
“There’s a lot of great players this year and it’s the Junior Worlds. It’s going to be tough,” said Team USA Coach Jhonny Prado (Coral Springs, Fla. / North Miami USA Judo National Training Site). “The main thing players will have to do is take every fight as if it’s the final. We hope to get good results for the first day to give motivation for the players who compete during the rest of the week.
A preview of each of the divisions being contested Thursday is as follows:
Women’s 48kg
Jeanette Rodriguez (Margate, Fla. / North Miami USA Judo National Training Site) enters her first Junior World Championships with one of the best draws for Team USA.
The 16-year-old will compete first against Merys Mejia (DOM), a hometown athlete who recently moved up to 48kg after competing in the non-Olympic weight division of 44kg throughout 2005.
Should Rodriguez win, her next match would be against Shelimar Brisyo (PUR) who has yet to be seen internationally. A quarter-final match-up could feature one of three athletes: Ewa Konieczny (POL) who finished fifth at the 2005 European U-17 Championships at 44kg, Alex Podryadova (KAZ) or Luz Alvarez (COL) who won gold at the 2006 Pan American Junior Championships at 48kg and finished fifth in the 44kg division at the 2005 Pan American Senior Championships. Rodriguez and Alvarez have fought once with Alvarez taking the win at this year’s USA Judo Junior Cup in April in a very close match.
The fourth pool, whose winner would fight the winner of Rodriguez’s pool in the semi-finals, features the four hottest athletes in the division all packed in the same quadrant. Eighteen-year-old Olga Sukha (UKR) is the division favorite. Sukha finished fifth at the 2004 Junior Worlds, but is a three-time World Cup medalist on the senior circuit, including podium finishes at this year’s Talinn and Sofia World Cup and a bronze at the 2005 Moscow Super World Cup. Sukha will fight Elen Monica Ungureaunu (ROM), a bronze medalist at this year’s Budapest Senior World Cup. The winner of that match has a potential second-round match with Tatiana Simantov (ISR), the 2004 and 2005 European Junior Champion who finished seventh at the 2004 Junior Worlds. Also in that quadrant lies Shugen Wu (CHN), a 2004 Asian Junior Champion and silver medalist at this year’s Asian Juniors.
Look for the winner of the bottom half of the division to face off in the finals against Shoko Ibe (JPN) who placed fifth at the Sofia Senior World Cup.
Women’s 52kg
Franchesca Durand (Coral Springs, Fla. / North Miami USA Judo National Training Site) drew a first-round bye and a second-round match against Hui-Shan Hsiao (TPE), a silver medalist at this year’s Asian Junior Championships.
The winner of that match will then face the winner of Levy Shahar (ISR) who won bronze at the European U-20 Championships at 48kg just under a month ago and Cuban Aivarez Ya Dei.
Among the athletes to watch on Durand’s side of the bracket are Anush hakobyan (ARM), a silver medalist at the 2006 European Juniors, and Maria Garcia (DOM), a 2004 and 2005 Senior Pan American medalist who beat Durand at this year’s USA Cup.
On the other half of the draw are Hedvig Karakas (HUN), a fifth place finisher at this year’s Budapest Senior World Cup; 2006 Asian Junior Champion Moe Kawasaki (JPN) and Erica Miranda (BRA), a bronze medalist at this year’s Senior Pan Ams.
Men’s +100kg
Aaron Shiosaki (Lomita, Calif. / Gardena Judo) fights Lukas Stupavsky (SVK) in the first round. The winner of the match will take on Aliaksandr Vakhaviak (BLR), a 2006 European U-20 Championships bronze medalist.
Also in Shiosaki’s half of the draw are Tino Bierau (GER), a three-time European U-20 medalist, and Jeffrey van Emden (NED), a bronze medalist at this year’s European Juniors.
Teddy Riner (FRA), this year’s European U-20 Champion and a fifth-place finisher at the Leonding Senior World Cup, is the likely favorite to advance to the finals from the bottom half of the draw. Other candidates from this half of the draw include 2006 Asian Junior Champion Sung-Min Kim (KOR) and Asian Junior bronze medalists Wei-Jen Shih (TPE) and Alan Turyssov (KAZ).
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