Member News
October 20, 2007
Nine
U.S.
Athletes Qualify for
U.S.
Open Day 2 Finals
(Duluth, Ga.)
– Competition in the senior
divisions of the U.S. Open will conclude Saturday evening at 5 p.m. at the
Gwinnett
Center
with nine
U.S.
players competing in the finals of this international event and qualifier for
the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Judo.
Fans can watch the gold medal final rounds live for free
beginning at 5 p.m. EST at http://www.livesportsvideo.com/judo/usajudo/USOpen07/USAJudoUSOpen07.asp.
Among tonight’s matches will be a rematch between Ryan Reser
(Colorado
Springs, Colo.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at the Olympic
Training
Center)
and Chuck Jefferson
(San Jose
,
Calif.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
San Jose
State
University).
Both Reser and Jefferson are former U.S. Open and Pan Am
Champions in the 73kg division with Reser being the #9-ranked player in the
world right now. The two have gone back
and forth with wins and losses since the 1990s and
Jefferson
is considered by many to be one of Reser’s greatest challengers for a berth on
the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team.
During the past year, the two have fought twice with
Jefferson
winning at the 2006 U.S. Open and Reser winning
at the Senior Nationals.
Also watch for 2006 U.S. Open Champions and World Team
members Jeanette Rodriguez (
Coral Springs
,
Fla.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
North Miami
) and Valerie
Gotay (
Harlingen
,
Texas
/
USA
Judo National Training
Site at
Harlingen
) attempt to defend their 48kg and 57kg titles, respectively.
A complete list of finals contestants is as follows:
Women’s 48kg
Ann Shiraishi (
Elk Grove
,
Calif.
/ East Bay Judo Institute)
Jeanette Rodriguez (
Coral Springs
,
Fla.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
North Miami
)
Men’s 60kg
Serge Zamotine (CAN)
Sergio Pessoa (CAN)
Women’s 52kg
Laurie Wiltshire (CAN)
Anna Palmer (
Colorado Springs
,
Colo.
/
USA
Judo National Training
Site at the Olympic
Training
Center
)
Men’s 66kg
Taylor Takata (
Colorado Springs
,
Colo.
/
USA
Judo National Training
Site at the Olympic
Training
Center
)
Sasha Mehmedovic (CAN)
Women’s 57kg
Maria Pekli (AUS)
Valerie Gotay (
Harlingen
,
Texas
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
Harlingen
)
Men’s 73kg
Chuck Jefferson (
San Jose
,
Calif.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
San Jose
State
Univrsity
)
Ryan Reser (
Colorado Springs
,
Colo.
/
USA
Judo National Training
Site at the Olympic
Training
Center
)
Women’s Open
Melinda Swanson (
Honolulu
,
Hawaii
/
Hawaii
Tenri)
Emily Lilly (
Camarillo
,
Calif.
/ Sawtelle)
Men’s Open
Nicolas Bernard (FRA)
Yasutaka Ohkawa (JPN)
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