Member News

October 14, 2006

Day 4 Junior Worlds Preview

Team USA will compete on Sunday in the men’s 60kg, 66kg and women’s +78kg divisions during the final day of the Junior World Championships in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

A preview of the divisions is as follows:

Men’s 60kg

Jeremy Liggett (Glenville, N.Y. / NYAC / Jason Morris Judo Center), this year’s Senior Pan American silver medalist, drew a first round bye before a second round match against Arsen Galstyan (RUS), the 2005 European U-17 Champion.  The winner would face Ashley Dafter (AUS), Nathon Burns (GBR) or Elio Verde (ITA) in the third round. 

In the event’s largest division with 41 players, Liggett would need three wins to advance to the semifinals. 

Elsewhere in Ligget’s half of the draw, look for either Ashraf Fikri (FRA), a silver medalist at the European U-20 Championships, or Mirali Sharipov (UZB), a seventh-place finisher at the Senior Moscow and Paris Super World Cups, to advance to the semifinals. 

The top half of the draw is stacked with top-level players, including Nijat Shikhalizade (AZE), 2005 Senior Worlds bronze medalist, and Rok Draksic (SLO), the Moscow Super World Cup Champion, who are favorites to win their respective pools.

Also look for two-time World Cup medalist and European U-20 Champion Georgiy Zantaraya (UKR) to make a medal run. 

Men’s 66kg

AJ Silverman (Glenville, N.Y. / Jason Morris Judo Center) also drew a first-round bye before a second-round against Filip Krizan (SCG) or Aliaksei Staushy (BLR).  Also in Silverman’s pool is Armando Ortiz (MEX) who finished fifth at last year’s Senior Pan Ams and defeated Silverman at the 2005 Junior U.S. Open.

In the bottom of Silverman’s half of the draw, Asian Junior medalists Alisher Mantobetov (KGZ) and Yusuke Aoki (JPN) are contenders for the medal rounds.  

In the top half of the draw, Tariel Zintiridis (GRE), a two-time European U-20 medalist will seek to upgrade his 2004 Junior Worlds fifth place finish, but expect challenges from  three-time Asian Junior bronze medalist Sergey Lim (UZB) and European U-20 Champion Dan Facie (ROM)

Women’s +78kg

Brittni Bradford (Land O’Lakes, Fla. / St. Pete Judo) has a bye before her second round against Germany’s #2 junior, Janina Waldhausen, the Junior Belgium Ladies Open Champion and a fifth-place finisher at last year’s Leonding Senior world Cup. 

Much like the 66kg draw, the top half of the pool holds many of the top medal candidates in this division, including Maria Shekerova (UZB), three-time Asian Senior Championships bronze medalist, Na-Young Kim (KOR), a silver medalist at the Bucharest Senior World Cup; and Ketty Mathe (FRA), European U-20 Champion and a fifth-place finisher at the Paris Senior Super World Cup.