Konan Judo

Click here to see how Team USA fared.

March 17, 2013 – Team USA gathered two gold, two silver and five bronze medals in a hugely successful showing at the Pan American Open in Uruguay over the weekend, the first major tournament for many of the elite athletes since the historic Olympic Games in London.

Travis Stevens, 81 kg. (NYAC/Team FORCE, Wakefield, Mass.), and Samantha Bleier, 78 kg. (U.S. Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs, CO), today capped the weekend tournament by capturing the team’s two gold medals.

Bleier was down by a wazari when she returned with a seoi nage and a pin to win the gold-medal round. Stevens finished his first two challengers with seoi nage. He won his third round on penalties and dominated his last in the final round on the ground for gold.

Kayla Harrison (NYAC/Team FORCE, Wakefield, Mass.) added the second silver medal for the team, fighting at under 70 kg., one weight division down from where she made history in London at 78 kg by taking the nation’s first Olympic gold medal in the sport. Harrison controlled her first opponent to finish with a pin. She landed her second opponent with a stunning uchimata followed by a pin. She won her third match on penalties but then lost against Colombia’s Yuri Alvear in the final.

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This entry was posted on March 17, 2013 at 4:40 pm and is filed under Judo News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.