2007 Kano Cup Preview

Member News

December 6, 2007

Team USA Takes on World and Olympic Medalists at Kano Cup Judo World Grand Prix This Weekend

With the expected difficult level of nearly World Championship caliber in some divisions, the Kano Cup Judo World Grand Prix in Tokyo , Japan will be an excellent preview of the 2008 Olympic Games for the six U.S. athletes competing in the three-day tournament that begins on Friday.

Competition schedule is as follows:

Friday: Men’s 60kg and 66kg, Women’s 78kg and +78kg
Saturday: Men’s 73kg, 81kg and 90kg, Women’s 63kg and 70kg
Sunday: Men’s 100kg and +100kg, Women’s 48kg, 52kg and 57kg

Ronda Rousey (Wakefield, Mass. / USA Judo National Team FORCE / NYAC / 70kg) made history at the World Championships in Rio de Janeiro in September when she won the first World medal for a U.S. woman since 1995, earning a silver medal as one of the division’s youngest players at only 20-years-old.

On Saturday, Rousey could potentially find herself in the position to make history again as this will be the first year women have been allowed to compete in the Kano Cup and the best players in the world have all come out in force.

Rousey drew Beata Rainczuk (POL) in the first round, followed by a second round against Mayra Aguiar (BRA) who she threw for ippon in the last seconds of the Pan Am Games final and pinned in the Worlds quarter-finals. A trip to the quarter-finals would pit Rousey against 2005 World medalist Rasa Sraka (SLO), 2007 Asian Champion Asuka Oka (JPN) or Mi-Jung Kim (KOR), a 1991 World and 1992 Olympic Champion. Rousey has not competed against either Sraka or Kim, who retired in the mid-1990s, but she did defeat Oka, the fifth-ranked player in the world when they fought in the first round in Rio.

In the bottom pool of Rousey’s draw, potential semifinal candidates include World medalist Anett Meszaros (HUN) and Yalennis Castillo (CUB), the 2006 Pan Am Champion who Rousey defeated earlier this year at the Vienna World Cup – Rousey’s first event in the 70kg division after moving up from 63kg.

On the top of the 70kg bracket are two of Rousey’s World Championship opponents: Edith Bosch (NED), the 2005 World Champion who Rousey threw for ippon in the last minute of the semifinal and Ylenia Scapin (ITA), a two-time Olympic medalist who Rousey beat in the second round at the Worlds. Scapin fought back through the repechage to win her second World medal. Masae Ueno (JPN), the 2004 Olympic Champion and a two-time World Champion, also is in the top half of the draw.

Travis Stevens (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) won his first major international title in the 81kg division at the Pan American Games in July and will start off his competition in Japan with a difficult match against Robert Krawczyk (POL), a 2003 World medalist who placed fifth at this year’s Worlds. The winner could face 2005 World medalist Takashi Ono (JPN) in the second round.

Stevens’ JMJC teammate Katie Mocco ( Glenville , N.Y. / NYAC) has a first-round bye in the 78kg division and then will fight the winner of Tomomi Okamura (JPN) and Ali Jilkbayeva (KAZ). Other players to watch for in the division include two-time World Champion Yurisel Laborde (CUB) who defeated Mocco at the Korea Cup last week, 2007 World bronze medalist Gyeong Mi Jeon (KOR), 2007 World bronze medalist Stephanie Possamai (FRA) and 2005 World bronze medalist Celine Lebrun (FRA).

Like Mocco, Nick Kossor ( Glenville , N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center / 60kg) placed seventh in Korea and will be competing in Japan after a training camp in Jeju , Korea . Kossor’s opening match is against Takeshi Ogawa (JPN), a three-time World Cup medalist who placed third at this tournament in 2006. Other players to watch include 2007 World Champion Ruben Houkes (NED), two-time World medalist Ludwig Paischer (AUT) and 2005 World medalist Nam-Suk Cho (KOR).

Twenty-one-year-old Anna Palmer (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training site at the Olympic Training Center) will be competing in her first event since moving up to the #1 U.S. ranking in the 52kg division two weeks ago. Palmer has a first-round bye and a second round against 2005 Asian Junior Champion Eri Kakita (JPN). Two other Japanese players are heavy favorites in the division: Yuki Yokosawa, 2005 World Championships silver medalist and 2004 Olympic silver medalist, and Misato Nakamura, a 2006 and 2007 Paris Super World Cup medalist.

Aaron Handy ( Wakefield , Mass. / USA Judo National Team FORCE / 100kg) will be competing in his first senior event in Asia, drawing 2004 Olympic silver medalist Sung-Ho Jang (KOR) in the first round. The heavily loaded division also includes 2007 World Champion Luciano Correia (BRA), 2007 World silver medalist Peter Cousins (GBR), 2007 World bronze medalist Oreidis Despaigne (CUB) and 2005 World silver medalist Vitalii Bubon (UKR).