Member News

October 29, 2007

Kunihiro and Learned Win Flanders Cup

Juniors Aaron Kunihiro (Wakefield, Mass. / USA Judo National Team FORCE) and Corwin Learned (El Grenada, Calif. / Cahill’s Judo Academy) each won gold medals at the Flanders Cup in Lommel , Belgium over the weekend. 

An international junior event featuring more than 300 players in Under-17 and Under-20 age divisions, the Flanders Cup included athletes from many European countries, including Great Britain, Latvia, Belgium and the Netherlands.  

Nine U.S. athletes competed in the tournament with each of the players competing in at least four, and as many as seven, matches. 

Kunihiro, the third-ranked U.S. senior at 60kg, won the U20 60kg division with a total of five matches while Fall Classic National Champion Learned won the U17 55kg division while competing in seven matches. 

Jared Sterling (Puyallup, Wash. / Ippon Judo) won a silver medal behind Kunihiro in the U20 60kg division and third-ranked junior Seiji Hashimoto (San Jose, Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University) placed second in the U20 66kg division.  

Kyle Taketa (Torrance, Calif. / Gardena Judo), a Senior Pan Am medalist who moved up to 60kg from 55kg over the summer, won bronze in the the U17 60kg division. Josh Villani (Bellevue , Wash. ), the Fall Classic Nationals silver medalist, placed third in the U17 55kg division. 

Ross Nakamura ( Mission Hills , Calif. / Valley Judo Institute) split his matches 2-2 in the U20 66kg division. 

Matt Dong ( San Jose , Calif. / San Jose Buddhist Judo Club) went 1-3 in the U17 55kg division while CJ Cody ( Plano , Texas / Becerra Judo) also went 1-3 in the U20 73kg division. 

The team was coached by 1987 World Champion Mike Swain and Shozo Fukuda, both coaches of the USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University. 

Swain, Fukuda and the team all are staying for a three-day training camp with more than 100 junior players from the tournament.