Member News
October 28, 2007
Completed Draws
Rousey Wins Third Straight Rendez-Vous
Canada
Title
(Colorado Springs,
Colo.)
– World silver medalist Ronda Rousey
(Wakefield, Mass.
/ USA Judo National Team FORCE / NYAC) had little trouble earning her third
consecutive gold medal at the Rendez-Vous Canada, a USA Judo Senior B-Level
Point Tournament, in Montreal on Sunday.
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Ronda Rousey en route to her 70kg win. Photo Credit: Lou DiGesare, www.realjudo.net |
Rousey won her most difficult match of the day in the first
round where she beat four-time World Cup medalist Catherine Roberge (CAN) by a pair of waza-aris (half-point each) in
the first round. Rousey controlled the
remainder of her matches before easily defeating Katy Bryant (CAN) in the final.
Natalie Lafon
(Harlingen, Texas / USA Judo National Training Site at Harlingen) fought in
her first B-Level final, losing a close match in the 48kg division to 2006
Paris Super World Cup silver medalist Isabel
Latulippe (CAN). Latulippe was up by
an early koka (smallest points), but ended the match by throwing Lafon with a
drop seoi nage (dropping shoulder throw) for a waza-ari score.
Lafon, a former Senior Nationals medalist in the 52kg
division, moved down to 48kg over the summer and placed fifth at the U.S. Open
last week which moved her into the #4 U.S. ranking in her new division.
Earlier in the day, Latulippe defeated top-ranked American Jeanette Rodriguez
(Coral
Springs, Fla.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
North Miami
) in the
semifinals. Although Latulippe threw
Rodriguez for ippon early during their last match at the Pan Am Championships,
Rodriguez held Latulippe scoreless, only losing by a penalty.
Rodriguez dropped down to the bronze medal match where she fought
seven-time Senior National Champion Sayaka
Matsumoto (El Cerrito, Calif. / NYAC / East Bay Judo Institute).
Rodriguez improved her record for the year against Matsumoto
to 3-2 when she threw Matsumoto for ippon with an o soto gari (outer leg throw)
to win the bronze.
In the men’s +100kg division, Daniel McCormick
(Wakefield
,
Mass.
/
USA
Judo National Team FORCE) won a bronze medal after placing fifth in 2006.
Two
U.S.
players both fought for bronze in the 100kg division, but lost their respective
matches. Adler Volmar
(Coral Springs,
Fla.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at
North Miami
) and Dariusz Mikolajzak
(Brooklyn
,
N.Y.
/ NYAC / Starrett Judo) each placed fifth.
Following the individual events, the
United States
and
Canada
fought in a team competition with Team
USA
winning the men’s division for
the first time ever and the Canadians winning the women’s division.
On the men’s side, key wins for the
United States
included Rick Hawn (
Wakefield
,
Mass.
/ USA Judo National Team FORCE) who defeated Alexandre Emond (CAN) in the 90kg division after losing to Emond in
the final of the individual event. Travis Stevens (
Glenville
,
N.Y.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at the
Jason
Morris
Judo
Center
) threw 81kg
bronze medalist Kalem Kachur (CAN) for
ippon to contribute to the 4-3 win.
Although the
U.S.
women lost their event, Rousey had another fight with Roberge, earning her
fourth win over the Canadian this year, pinning Roberge in the final seconds of
the match. Meanwhile, Kayla Harrison
(Wakefield
,
Mass.
/
USA
Judo National Team FORCE /
NYAC) avenged her loss on Saturday to Jennie
Bonsant (CAN) in the 63kg division by defeating Bonsant in the team
event.
Hannah
Martin (
Glenville
,
N.Y.
/
USA
Judo National Training Site at the
Jason
Morris
Judo
Center
) rounded out the
performances for the
U.S.
women by winning her 57kg match.
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