Member News

March 2, 2007

U.S. Men to Compete at Warsaw World Cup This Weekend

Draw Sheets

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Following a training camp in Hamburg, Germany, five U.S. men traveled to Poland to compete at the Warsaw World Cup on Saturday and Sunday.

Justin Flores (San Shi / 66kg), Travis Stevens (81kg) and Nick Kossor (60kg), all of the USA Judo National Training Site at Jason Morris Judo Center in Glenville, N.Y., each will be competing in his fourth European Tournament of the year.

Flores and Stevens began the season with bronze medal wins at the British Open in January, but neither advanced to the medal rounds at last week’s Otto Super World Cup in Hamburg, Germany or the Belgian Open in early February.

Flores drew a tough opening round against three-time European Champion Elchin Ismayilov (AZE) after a first-round bye.  An upset by Flores would put him into the next around against the winner of the match between Simon Mohorovic (SLO) and Jacek Brysz (POL).  Early wins will be crucial for Flores as his quadrant also includes reigning European Champion Zaza Kedelashvili (GEO), three-time World Cup medalist Pedro Dias (POR) and Ahmed Ould Said (FRA) who finished fifth at the Paris Super World Cup.  On the opposite side of the pool, look for World Champion Joao Derly (BRA) as the favorite to advance to the final.

Stevens also has a difficult first match, competing against Shota Kawahara, Japan’s National Champion.  The winner of the first round will go on to fight Daniel Fernandez (BEL), a 2005 European bronze medalist at 73kg.  Also on Stevens’ side of the draw is Euan Burton (GBR), a 2005 European medalist.  Athletes in the top half of the bracket include Athens Olympic bronze medalist Flavio Canto (BRA) and three-time World Cup medalist Diogo Lima (POR).

Kossor has never won a European medal, but has fought consistently on the tour, earning one of the best finishes for the American men when he posted a 3-2 record in Belgium.  Kossor’s first round is a bye followed by a second round match against the winner of Pawel Jalbrzykowski (POL) and Fabrice Flamand (BEL), last year’s Belgian Open Champion.  Also on Kossor’s side of the draw are Pan American Champion Frazer Will (CAN) who won a bronze medal two weeks ago at the Budapest World Cup and James Millar (GBR), a former Rendez-Vous Canada and U.S. Open Champion.  The bottom half of the 60kg draw includes Ruslan Kishmakov (RUS) who finished seventh at last week’s Otto Super World Cup, Vakhtangi Khositashvili (GEO), a three-time World Cup Champion and Joao Cardoso (POR), two-time World Cup medalist.

Bobby Lee (Coral Springs, Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami / 73kg) is the only one of the five not to have competed in Hamburg.  The 18-year-old U.S. Open Champion competed in Great Britain, Belgium and at the Paris Super World Cup at the start of the Tour, returned home for just under two weeks and is back for his final European event of the spring.  

Lee has a first-round bye and a second round match against Ivan Oveido (ESP).  The winner will face either Krzysztof Wilkomirski (POL), 2001 World bronze medalist; Francesco Bruyere (ITA), 2005 World silver medalist; or Museyib Jafarov (AZE) who won a bronze medal at the Tblissi World Cup in January.  Leandro Guilheiro (BRA), 2004 Olympic medalist; Yoel Razvozov (ISR), two-time European runner-up; Claudiu Bastea (ROM), nine-time World Cup medalist looking for his first title; and Mindia Khomizuri (GEO), seven-time World Cup medalist are just four of the athletes to watch in the bottom half of the division.

Adler Volmar (Coral Springs, Fla. / USA Judo National Training Site at North Miami / 100kg), a 1996 Olympian for Haiti, is looking to win his first match on this year’s Tour, but faces a first round match against 2006 Junior World Champion Cyril Maret (FRA).  Other athletes to watch in the division include 2006 European medalist Peter Cousins (GBR) and Michel Jurack (GER), the Athens bronze medalist who beat Volmar in the first round last week.

The 60kg, 66kg and 73kg divisions will be contested on Saturday, followed by the 81kg, 90kg, 100kg and +100kg divisions on Sunday.