| Member News
August 8, 2008
Women’s 48kg and Men’s 60kg Olympic Games Preview
(Beijing, China) – In a weird twist of fate, Sayaka Matsumoto (El Cerrito, Calif. / Richmond, Calif.) will compete against the one player she said she wanted the opportunity to fight in the first round and that the rest of the world fears – reigning Olympic and seven-time World Champion Ryoko Tani (JPN).
Matsumoto’s match will be the first of the entire Games and will begin at noon at the Beijing University of Science and Technology Gymnasium. Preliminary rounds will run until completion and the evening finals (including semifinals, repechage finals and gold and bronze medal matches) will begin at 6 p.m.
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Sayaka Matsumoto |
A legend in the sport, 32-year-old Tani hasn’t lost at the Olympic Games since 1996 when she placed second behind a fresh-faced teenager – Sun Hui Kye (PRK). Kye would later move through two weight divisions and four World titles as part of her ascent to the top of the 57kg division.
Tani is beatable, however, and lost at both the 2007 and 2008 National Championships.
The winner of that match would face Shugen Wu (CHN) – the 2007 Paris Super World Cup Champion.
In the pool below Matsumoto’s, one of the favorites to emerge is Alina Dumitru (ROM). The 25-year-old is a two-time World medalist who will be aiming for her first trip to the Olympic podium.
On the opposite side of the draw, watch for a potential semifinal between Yanet Bermoy (CUB) and Frederique Jossinet (FRA). When Tani took the year off to have a baby in 2005, then-18-year-old Bermoy emerged on the scene to defeat Jossinet and win the World Championships. Their record is dead even with a tied match at the 2006 World Team Championships and a win at home for Jossinet at the 2007 Paris Super World Cup.
Both players have known the bridesmaid role, however, as Bermoy lost to Tani in a close match at the 2007 World finals and Jossinet lost to the Japanese legend in the 2004 Olympic finals.
Below are past 48kg results:
2007 World Championship Results
* Indicates Players Competing in Beijing
1. Ryoko Tani (JPN)*
2. Yanet Bermoy (CUB)*
3. Frederique Jossinet (FRA)*
3. Alina Dumitru (ROM)*
5. Young-Ran Kim (KOR)
5. Paula Paretto (ARG)*
7. Tatiana Moskvina (BLR)
7. Ewa Csernoviczky (HUN)*
2005 World Championship Results
1. Yanet Bermoy (CUB)*
2. Frederique Jossinet (FRA)*
3. Alina Dumitru (ROM)*
3. Soraya Haddad (ALG)
5. Ann Simmons (BEL)
5. Ok Song Pak (PRK)
7. Gereltuya Erdenchimeg (MGL)
7. Kayo Kitada (JPN)
2004 Olympic Results
1. Ryoko Tani (JPN)*
2. Frederique Jossinet (FRA)*
3. Julia Matijass (GER)
3. Gao Feng (CHN)
5. Maria Karagiannopolous (GRE)
5. Alina Dumitru (ROM)*
7. Anna Zemla (POL)
7. Gue-Rin Ye (KOR)
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Taraje Williams-Murray |
Four years after being one of the youngest male athletes in Athens, Taraje Williams-Murray (Wakefield, Mass.
/ Bronx, N.Y.), the 2008 Pan Am medalist is hoping to take his skills to the Olympic stage to fight for a medal in Beijing.
Williams-Murray also will begin his day with one of the toughest players in the field after a first-round bye. Following the recent retirement of three-time Olympic Champion Tadahiro Nomura, Hiroaki Hiraoka has moved into the position of the top-ranked Japanese player. Although Hiraoka hasn’t had the opportunity to prove himself on the big stage of the Olympics, gold medals at the 2007 Kano Cup and 2008 Super World Cup show that he is up to the task of defending a legacy.
As Hiraoka comes in unseeded, the pressure will be on for Williams-Murray to pull an upset as the winner could face reigning World Champion Ruben Houkes (NED) in the quarter-finals. Should Williams-Murray lose in the first round, Hiraoka would need to defeat Houkes to pull the American through to the repechage.
A win for Williams-Murray would put him in a third round match against the winner of Albert Techov (LTU) vs. Javier Guedez (VEN).
In the next pool, 2003 World Champion Min-Ho Choi (KOR) is the favorite to advance to the semifinals while the flip side of the draw includes 2007 World silver medalist Nestor Khergiani (GEO) as well as a potential third-round match between 2005 World Champion Craig Fallon (GBR) and 2007 World silver medalist Ludwig Paischer (AUT). Fallon defeated Paischer in the finals to win his 2005 World title and most recently took the win when they fought at the Vienna World Cup this winter.
2007 World Championship Results
1. Ruben Houkes (NED)*
2. Nestor Khergiani (GEO)*
3. Ludwig Paischer (AUT)*
3. Min-Ho Choi (KOR)*
5. Rok Draksic (SLO)*
5. Khashbaatar Tsagaanbaatar (MGL)*
7. Tatsuaki Egusa (JPN)
7. Cemal Oguz (TUR)
2005 World Championship Results
1. Craig Fallon (GBR)*
2. Ludwig Paischer (AUT)*
3. Nam-Suk Cho (KOR)
3. Nijat Shikhalizade (AZE)
5. Salamat Utarbajew (KAZ)*
5. Revazi Zintiridis (GRE)
7. Gal Yekutiel (ISR)*
7. David Larose (FRA)
2004 Olympic Results
1. Tadahiro Nomura (JPN)
2. Nestor Khergiani (GEO)*
3. Min-Ho Choi (KOR)*
3. Tsagaanbaatar Khashbaatar (MGL)*
5. Kenji Uematsu (ESP)
5. Massoud Akhondzadeh (IRI)*
7. Oliver Gussenberg (GER)
7. Revazi Zintiridis (GRE) |
