| Member News
February 19, 2008
Team USA to Compete at Hamburg Super World Cup This Weekend
(Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Eight U.S. athletes will be competing at the Hamburg Super World Cup, the second USA Judo Senior A+ Level event of the season, in Germany this weekend.
The event will be the second World Cup tournament this year for two players, while the remaining six will be making their 2008 World Cup debuts.
Taraje Williams-Murray (Wakefield, Mass. / USA Judo National Team FORCE / NYAC), a four-time National Champion in the 60kg division, competed last weekend at the Vienna World Cup and will be fighting in his second tournament after participating in a training camp in Austria.
Nina Cutro-Kelly (San Antonio, Texas / Universal Judo), the 2007 Senior Nationals silver medalist in the 78kg division, competed at the Paris Super World Cup two weeks ago and is back in the quest for her first top-five placing at a World Cup event.
Anna Palmer (Colorado Springs, Colo. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Olympic Training Center / 52kg) will be competing in her first career World Cup event, but she has fought in European B-Levels before and picked up match wins at the Belgium Ladies Open at the beginning of the month.
Janine Nakao (San Jose, Calif. / USA Judo National Training Site at San Jose State University) also will be competing for the first time on the World Cup circuit, but she gained valuable experience during her last trip to Europe where she fought for a medal and placed fifth in the 57kg division.
Nakao’s San Jose teammate Chuck Jefferson (73kg), on the other hand, is a veteran of the tour, having won a bronze medal in Rome in 2002 and placing fifth in Warsaw in 2005.
Justin Flores (Glenville, N.Y. / USA Judo National Training Site at the Jason Morris Judo Center) will be fighting in the 66kg division where he nearly earned a bronze medal last year at the Warsaw World Cup. An injury left Flores with a fifth-place finish, but two fifth-place finishes on the Tour show that he has the potential to break through in Hamburg.
Thirty-year-old Christian Aarona (Waimanalo, Hawaii / Makiki Seidokan Judo Club / 100kg) hadn’t competed on the elite level in several years when he earned a #2 U.S. ranking with his bronze medal win at the U.S. Open in October. Although Aarona hasn’t competed in a major event since the Open, he will be a player to watch this weekend.
Six months ago, Landry Ambouroue (Richland, Texas / Ruben Martin Judo) wasn’t ranked in the top 10 in the 90kg division. Now the former Senior Nationals medalist is sitting at #3 in the United States after winning the Finnish Open in November.
Competition schedule is as follows:
Friday
Women’s 48kg, 52kg
Men’s 60kg, 66kg
Saturday
Women’s 57kg, 63kg, 70kg
Men’s 73kg, 81kg
Sunday
Women’s 78kg, +78kg
Men’s 90kg, 100kg, +100kg |
