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Stevens takes Silver in Moscow

May 29, 2011 – USA Judo’s Travis Stevens scaled the podium for a silver medal at the Moscow Grand Slam today, one of the toughest tournaments in the world, winning his first two matches with arm bars and then defeating Russian Ivan Nifontov in the quarterfinals – sweet revenge on Russian soil after Nifontov beat Stevens last year.

In his first match, Stevens battled Venezuela’s Mervin Rodriguez. The match was tie shido to shido when Stevens caught Rodriguez with his first arm bar of the day, juji gatame, for the submission win with 1 minute left in the match.

In his second match, Stevens caught Antonio Ciano of Italy with another quick juji gatame for win by submission in the first 30 seconds.

Then, in the quarterfinal, Stevens defeated Ivan Nifontov of Russia by yuko. He pinned the Russian for 15 seconds for the yuko victory. "The win against Nifontov was huge for Travis,” said his coach, two-time Olympic Bronze medalist Jimmy Pedro, who led the team to Moscow. “The Russian defeated him last year. And this was sweet revenge in front of the Russian crowd."

In the semi final, Stevens faced Kazakhstan’s Islam Bozbayev. “Travis really dominated the match but could not find a way to score,” Pedro said. Then the match went to sudden-death overtime. “Travis' relentless pace from the beginning finally took its toll on the exhausted Kazakhstan fighter. Travis caught him with a juji that he turned into a pin for the ippon victory.”

In the final, Travis faced Sven Maresch from Germany who won the Abu Dhabi grand prix last year. The final was an intense gripping battle, and Travis' hard day finally caught up to him because he was physically drained by the end of the match. He lost a very close 2-1 penalty match and had to settle for the silver.

"I am extremely pleased with Travis' performance,” Pedro said. “He really proved today that he is one of the best in the world. His transition into newaza was phenomenal, and really made the difference today."

"I had a great day today,” Stevens said, “but I am never satisfied with losing to anyone. I especially don't like losing the way I did. I was not peaking for this event and my cardio and recovery are not at the level where I need them to be right now. I look forward to fighting in Brazil next month."

Stevens is a strong contender for the 2012 Olympic team headed for London. Among his recent laurels, Stevens took gold at the highly competitive Dusseldorf Grand Prix in February, defeating the 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist, Ole Bischof, on the climb. Bischof took third in Moscow today. And Stevens took a bronze at the Paris Grand Slam last year, another of the toughest tournaments in the world.
Placing 5th at the Moscow Grand Slam for Team USA were Kayla Harrison, who also trains on Team FORCE under Pedro in Wakefield, Mass., and Marti Malloy from the National Training Site at San Jose State University, where she is coached by Yosh Uchida.

For complete results, click HERE.

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-- Story by Ernest Pund