Member News

December 1, 2007 

Kossor and Mocco Place Seventh at Korea Cup  

Two U.S. players placed seventh on Saturday at the Korea Cup, a USA Judo Senior B-Level Point Tournament, in Jeju.  

Former Pan Am Team members Katie Mocco (NYAC / 78kg) and Nick Kossor (60kg), both of the USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center in Glenvile, N.Y. , both earned top-seven finishes with 1-2 records.  

Mocco, competing in her international event outside North America since moving up to the 78kg division, drew the reigning World Champion Yurisel Laborde (CUB) in the first round, losing the match by a pair of waza-aris (half-point each) and a pair of kokas (smallest points).  

Laborde would go on to win the division, carrying Mocco through to the repechage where she won her first match against 2007 Pan Am medalist Marylise Levesque (CAN) by a penalty.  The match is Mocco’s third against one of her biggest rivals in the region during the past two months.  Mocco won their first match-up at the U.S. Open in October while Levesque won their next match the following week at the Rendez-Vous Canada.  

Mocco needed won more win to fight for bronze, but Gyeong-Mi Jeong (KOR) won their next match by two yuko scores (quarter-point each) and Mocco placed seventh.  

Kossor lost his first-round match to eventual silver medalist Kwang-Hyun Choi (KOR), but choked Yat Hei Chan (HKG), the 2007 Pacific Rim bronze medalist, just over a minute into his next match.   

Like Mocco, Kossor needed one more win to fight for bronze, but lost his next to Salamat Utarbayev (KAZ), a fifth-place finisher at the 2005 World Championships who threw Kossor for ippon (instant win) with an uchimata mid-way through the match.  

The U.S. Team will stay in Korea until Wednesday for a training camp before traveling to Tokyo , Japan for the Kano Cup.  

Complete results are as follows:  

Men’s 60kg

1. Nam-Suk Cho (KOR)

2. Kwang-Hyun Choi (KOR)
3. Min-Ho Choi (KOR)

3. Boldbaatar Ganbat (MGL)

5. Salamat Utarbayev (KAZ)

5. Toshimasa Takahashi (JPN)

7. Nick Kossor (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center)  

Men’s 66kg

1. T. Hashbaatar (MGL)

2. Jung-Hwan Ahn (KOR)

3. Jun-Ho Cho (KOR)

3. Kwang-Seob Kim (KOR)

5. G. Nurmuhammedov (TKM)

5. Sasha Mehmedovic (CAN)

7. Lee Calder (NZL)

7. Xiaoming Yang (CHN)

Men’s 73kg

1. Ji-Seob Yoon (KOR)

2. Masahiko Otsuka (JPN)

3. Rinat Ibragimov (KAZ)

3. Nyam Sainjargal (MGL)

5. Peter Broom (NZL)

5. Dong-Kyu Seo (KOR)

7. Zakariya Moradi (IRI)

7. Won-Joong Kim (KOR)  

Women's 63kg

1. Chin-Fang Wang (TPE)

2. Driulis Gonzales (CUB)

3. Joy Williams (NZL)

3. Kalzhan Taizhanova (KAZ)

5. Mi-Won You (KOR)

5. Jennie Bonsant (CAN)

7. Johanna Ylinen (FIN)

7. Jin-Hee Lee (KOR)

Women’s 70kg

1. Mi-Jung Kim (KOR)

2. Yalennis Castillo (CUB)

3. Ka-Yeon Park (KOR)

3. Haruko Tachimoto (JPN)

5. Elina Paulman (FIN)

5. Mi-Young Choi (KOR)

7. Nasiba Surkiyeva (TKM)

7. Zhanar Zhanzunova (KAZ)

Women’s 78kg

1. Yurisel Laborde (CUB)

2. So-Yeon Lee (KOR)

3. Hitimi Ikeda (JPN)

3. Gyeong-Mi Jeong (KOR)

5. L. Purevjargal (MGL)

5. Soo-Hee Cho (KOR)

7. Raquel Prieto (ESP)

7. Katie Mocco (Glenville, N.Y. / NYAC / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center)  

Women’s +78kg

1. Na-Young Kim (KOR)

2. Idalis Ortiz Boucourt (CUB)

3. Eun-Hye Shin (KOR)

3. Megumi Tachimoto (JPN)

5. Janelle Shepherd (AUS)

5. Gulzhan Issanova (KAZ)

7. Ji-Yoon Kim (KOR)

7. Hsiao-Yu Huang (TPE)